JOHN Brain believes the evolution of his Worcester Rugby Club squad took a step forward last night after a last-gasp 19-16 win over Ebbw Vale.

The Sixways' director of rugby was pleased with the character and commitment on show as Worcester hit back from 16-12 down to bag their second pre-season victory.

Martin Morgan claimed the all-important try in the dying seconds of the Sixways friendly following first-half touchdowns by David Officer and Duncan Roke.

And on the back of Saturday's 26-22 success over Swansea, Brain declared himself satisfied with the workout.

"It was a very useful exercise for us," said Brain. "They were a different type of opposition to Swansea in many ways. They were stronger and defensively they were well organised.

"I think we started badly and the first 20 minutes were very poor. The main thing, though, was that we gradually got better.

"We said to the guys, with 20 minutes to go, that the priority was to win the match and they've gone out and done that. All credit to them because they showed character."

Worcester began the match with eight new signings involved and it took time for them to gel as they trailed 6-0 after 25 minutes.

Ben Hinshelwood was then yellow carded before Officer charged down a clearance to dive over the line. James Brown converted and, just before the break, Chris Garrard sped away to put in Roke for an unconverted score as the newly branded 'Warriors' led 12-6 at half-time.

Ebbw Vale hit back with tries from Paul Jones and Andy Bevan to go 16-12 ahead with 10 minutes left. But after Chris Hall's yellow card, Morgan finished off a spell of Worcester pressure to send the crowd home happy.

Brain was disappointed, however, with Worcester's set-piece work and he admitted that there was plenty of work to be done before the real business began at Coventry on August 31.

"We just couldn't get our set-piece right," he added. "Our scrum and lineout was not particularly good. That was the problem in the first 20 minutes -- we didn't get our platform right.

"We wanted to have alook at the new boys and we are quite a lot wiser now. We've definitely moved forward."