ON A miserable afternoon and a heavy pitch, Worcester continued their excellent away form with a hard-earned 12-8 Women’s Premiership victory at Wasps — their third consecutive win on the road.

The visitors applied the early pressure but it was clear the game would be a close encounter.

Wasps repelled a wave of forward charges, in which Rochelle Clark was always prominent. The home side then came back in similar vein, Claire Purdy leading the pack admirably.

Worcester could have taken the lead, having two unsuccessful penalty attempts, but with the visitors clearly dominating, a lapse of concentration allowed a third and successful attempt on the stoke of half time.

The second half started with Wasps’ fly-half Tina Lee making good use of the conditions, continually kicking into a large puddle in the visitors ‘22’.This tactic paid dividends as Worcester gifted the hosts a try, throwing a loose pass after Lee’s kick confused the defence.

Undaunted, Worcester continued to press and played some excellent rugby with Megan Goddard and Ceri Large, who reversed their normal positions, prominent in the attacks.

They had support from some forceful breaks by Zoe Bennion and a combined move resulted in Large putting the visitors on the scoreboard with an excellent try.

With 15 minutes remaining, Worcester missed a penalty kick, but their hearts and spirit were undeterred with no intention of settling for a losing bonus point.

Goddard set off on a forceful run, beating several defenders, to put the visitors in the lead for the first time. She also completed the conversion and a tense final 13 minutes were played out with the visitors sensibly keeping possession.

Worcester coach Kat Merchant will be satisfied with the outcome, but will also wish to convert so much pressure into scores in future.