WORCESTER Wanderers went down 17-10 in a home tussle with Stourbridge Lions.

The play was pretty even in the first-half until a loose kick from stand-off Joph Young failed to make touch and the Stourbridge backs took full advantage by running 50 metres to score a converted try.

Later in the half, Stourbridge mauled the ball from two metres out to go over for an unconverted try and stretch the lead to 12-0.

It looked ominous at the turnaround until centre Ryan Henshaw took the initiative. From deep within the Wanderers half, he raced into the opponents half and drew the defender, which allowed Young to make amends for his earlier slip-up and score a converted try.

Young then added a penalty to reduce the deficit to two points.

But five minutes from the end, Stourbridge had a line-out on the five-metre line and from the clean take, they mauled the ball over the line to dash Worcester's hopes.

In the Worcester & Hereford Merit Table, Wanderers' Seconds played some sparkling rugby to beat Stourbridge Greyhounds 16-14 on the adjacent pitch at Sixways.