WORCESTER Wanderers travelled to Whitchurch hoping to maintain the form that saw then beat Kenilworth and they achieved that with an impressive 37-27 Midlands One West victory.

Whitchurch started well when they kicked down the field allowing the pacy Whitchurch back three to show their gas to beat numerous attempted tackles and score in the corner.

The restart was again won back by Whitchurch, but he Worcester pack started to unsettle the Whitchurch scrum.

But on 12 minutes the ever threatening Whitchurch backs spotted a gap and made a break. The recycled the ball saw their scrum-half cross the line for a converted Whitchurch try.

At the end of the first quarter, Worcester were on the attack when an off-the-ball incident took place. The referee saw the Whitchurch hooker head-butt Richard Ralph and issued a straight red card. Worcester kicked the penalty to make it 12-3.

Whitchurch took the decision as an incentive and took the game to Worcester, but a second penalty was kicked by Ollie Meadows to cut the deficit to 12-6.

On the half-hour, Worcester kicked over the Whitchurch back line, the full-back recycled quick ball, but an attempted box-kick was charged down by Andy Reid and James Priddey collected and went over unopposed.

The end of the half saw Whitchurch continue their determined attitude and a kick through saw a foot race to get the ball down in the in goal area. The referee awarded a try and Whitchurch put over a penalty soon after to make the score 20-11 at the interval.

After a few stern words at half time, Worcester seemed to have the bit between their teeth and after 14 minutes of relentless pressure, the visitors’ back-line went through three phases to score out wide. Ollie Meadows slotted the conversion.

Depleted Whitchurch did not lie down, however, and a series of penalties given away by Worcester saw the referee award Whitchurch a penalty try and sin-binning for Ralph.

The game continued to be played at a fast pace with great work by both sides, but Worcester’s fitness and power started to open cracks in the Whitchurch defence.

Wanderers were awarded an attacking scrum and, after a couple of resets, Whitchurch could not contain Worcester’s power and a collapse resulted in a penalty try. Meadows added the extras to make its 27-25 to Whitchurch with 18 minutes to go.

The home side never gave up but playing for so long with 14 men began to tell.

Worcester continued their relentless attack, opting for scrums rather than the line-outs, and two scrums within minutes of each other and both resulted in push over tries scored by Chris Griffiths, both of which were converted to clinch a hard-earned win.