THERE was to be no repeat of the dramatic victory over Wasps as Matthew Jones missed a late penalty which would have handed Worcester Warriors success over Leicester Tigers at Sixways.

Instead, the hosts had to settle for a losing bonus point as the men from Welford Road claimed a tense 19-17 win courtesy of scrum-half Julien Dupuy’s second-half try, which he converted himself, and four Toby Flood penalties.

Warriors replied with tries from impressive young prop Matt Mullan and number eight Netani Talei as well as a penalty and two conversions from Loki Crichton.

Warriors spurned the first opportunity when, after four minutes, fly-half Crich-ton, the last-gasp match-winner at Wasps, was off target from 35 metres. Two minutes later, Chris Horsman came in at the side, but England star Toby Flood was also wayward.

Prop Horsman sinned again, taking out Dupuy before the ball was out of a ruck, and, this time, Flood split the posts.

After 13 minutes, Horsman was hit for not binding properly at a scrum and some back-chat to referee Andrew Small by the Welsh international front rower saw the penalty moved forward 10 metres into Flood’s range. Fortunately for Warriors —and Horsman — the Tigers’ stand-off'’s effort was wide right.

Warriors sprang into life after 19 minutes when Chris Pennell excellently gathered Ryan Powell's danger-clearing box-kick. The young right winger set up a series of power-packed drives by the forwards to the half-way line before Crich-ton’s kick found Miles Benjamin, but the pacy winger was bundled into touch.

Benjamin was then involved again, dancing past several defenders to win Warriors the put-in inside the Leicester 22. Powell recycled the ball out to the right and, from another ruck, Mullan picked up and burst through a huge hole in the Tigers’ defence to coast over for the game’s opening try. Crichton drilled his conversion through the posts.

From the restart, Worcester went on the attack again with Pennell breaking in midfield before setting Aussie full-back Chris Latham on a burst into Tigers’' territory. Sensing another try, the Warriors pushed on, winning a line-out, but the visitors managed to turn Powell over in the tackle at the breakdown.

For the second game running, the injury-plagued Horsman was replaced by Tevita Taumoepeau after 33 minutes, with the combative Welshman hobbling off the pitch with a dead leg.

Benjamin bought the jam-packed Six-ways crowd to their feet with a jet-heeled midfield break that saw the youngster power from inside his own half, past a host of would-be tacklers and into the Leicester 22. The ball was fired back to Crichton, who pulled his drop-goal attempt off target.

With the referee having already warned Tigers’ skipper Martin Corry about his players coming in at the side, he had no option but to show Bromsgrove-born Jordan Crane a yellow card on 37 minutes. Warriors couldn't capitalise, though, as Crichton scuffed the resulting kick wide.

On the stroke of half-time, the Warriors’ front row were guilty of not driving straight and Flood slotted his kick from near the touchline to signal the end of the half. However, the Sixways crowd showed their displeasure at the score with a large number of fans adamant the ball had narrowly missed its target.

Five minutes into the second-half, Dupuy put a clever kick in behind Wor-cester and Benjamin picked the ball up in an off-side position to allow Flood to split the uprights and put his side ahead.

Tigers’ prop Julian White went off his feet at a ruck and handed Worcester an opportunity to re-take the lead. However, Pennell’s long-range effort drifted wide.

Worcester roared back into the lead, though, when Talei galloped onto Crich-ton’s pass at full tilt, broke a tackle and charged over for the second try. Crichton made it 14-9 with the conversion.

After 52 minutes, Leicester pressurised the Worcester line with a series of scrums, but the Warriors pack held firm before turning the ball over and allowing Crichton to boot to safety.

Flood added another three points to his tally with a penalty after he was denied a try by the off-side Latham. From the re-start, flanker James Collins was sent to the bin after tackling a player in the air.

Leicester then looked set to score, but their final pass was intercepted by Latham who burst 70 metres upfield before being hauled down by Flood. However, the visitors’ stand-off then went off-side and tackled the man without the ball, leaving referee Small no option but to send him to the bin. Crichton slotted the resulting penalty.

A period of dogged defence by the Warriors was finally undone after a number of phases when Dupuy sniped over the line from a ruck to level the scores. Then, with Flood still in the bin, the Frenchman gave his side the lead with the conversion.

Warriors replaced Latham, who picked up a head injury, with Matthew Jones as Crichton switched to full-back.

With just five minutes left, Jones had the chance to edge Warriors ahead. However, the fly-half’s kick went agonisingly wide.