WORCESTER returned from the Athletic Ground having moved into third place in the Women’s Rugby Premiership following their excellent 27-14 victory over Richmond.

Both sides were forced to field a number of second-team replacements due to international commitments, but perhaps nobody no-one in the Premiership outside of Worcester would have predicted the result.

Worcester opened strongly, penning the home side in their ‘22’ for eight minutes.

But, in Richmond’s first attack, the visitors’ slack discipline gave Jayne Goodliffe the opportunity to open the home side’s account with a well-struck penalty.

Worcester hit back immediately with a flowing backs move that ended with Lisa Campbell scoring in the corner.

Richmond then used their heavier and more experienced pack to deny Worcester possession and it was perhaps inevitable for Becky Essex to score following a scrummage, Goodliffe taking the extras.

With Coach Kat Merchant’s half-time talk clearly had the desired effect as the visitors stormed forward from the kick off, this pressure resulting in an early penalty for Megan Goddard to reduce the deficit.

From this point Worcester took command of the game with forwards and backs integrating well. Such was the strength of the Worcester defence when called upon that the visitors opted for penalty kick attempts.

With the balance of possession now reversed, Kelly Smith scored an excellent try for Worcester under the posts, outpacing the home defence from her own ‘22’ with Goddard again adding the extras.

Excitement mounted as Richmond brought the game back to within one point with a penalty from Goodliffe, but the visitors then pulled away to record an excellent and comfortable victory with further tries from Laura Keates, converted by Goddard, and Rochelle Clark.