WORCESTERSHIRE Saints suffered another heavy defeat in the TotalRL.com Rugby League Conference, going down 66-6 away to Gloucester Warriors.

Saints made the short journey to Chosen Hill Rugby Club looking for revenge over a Warriors side that had completed the double over Worcester last season.

June 1998 was the last time that the Saints had emerged victorious over the Warriors and once again this local derby turned into a one-sided match with the Warriors dominant from the kick-off.

Slack tackling allowed Gloucester to score three converted tries in the opening 22 minutes of the first half.

Worcester then briefly came back into the game with John Hurst, Mark Smith, and Richard Whitehouse all coming close to scoring.

A Saints try at this point might have brought them back into the match but the chances were missed and three more Gloucester tries, two of which were converted, gave the Warriors a 36-0 half-time lead.

Playing into a swirling wind in the second half Worcester fell further behind when the Warriors scored two tries in the opening five minutes and with

the Saints struggling to break out of their own half Gloucester continued to be in control, reaching the half-century mark with two further tries to lead 54-0 with more than a quarter of the match remaining.

Worcester came back into the game and following a period of sustained pressure from their pack they scored a consolation try, when Whitehouse followed on from his own kick to score under the post. His easy conversion made him the club's top points scorer this season.

Two more converted tries in the final minutes completed the scoring.

As with the match at Oxford, Worcester were again let down by poor tackling and a failure to make the best use of the limited possession. Some good performances from individual players does not compensate for a lack of cohesion in the team.

Team: Whitehouse, Smith, Wiltshire, Barker, Snape, Mounter, Toole, Laishleigh, Jefferies, Goodyear, Gulliver, Helmer, Samora. Replacements: Hurst, Jesson, Harrison, Badham.