WORCESTER Warriors crashed to a 27-8 defeat at Zebre to put a dent in their hopes of qualifying from European Challenge Cup Pool Four.

Gloucester's 33-20 win at La Rochelle on Thursday put them in control of the group with Worcester down in third but level on points with today's Italian hosts.

Warriors, who won their cup opener 19-3 at home to La Rochelle last weekend, were undone by an eye-catching individual display from fly-half Carlo Canna in rainy Parma.

Zebre started clinically with Marcello Violi diving over for the opening try after hooker Andrea Manici broke through.

Canna kicked the conversion and a penalty to put the hosts 10-0 up inside just five minutes.

A Ben Howard up-and-under helped Warriors escape from their own half but the Sixways side could not capitalise on winning a line-out on the Zebre 22.

The home side regained control and forced Worcester back into their own 22.

Tommaso Boni scored a second try on 14 minutes after Violi fed the ball out wide but the conversion was missed.

Zebre's territorial domination continued and Canna gave the hosts an 18-0 lead with a well-executed drop goal.

Warriors finally opened their account on 21 minutes with Ryan Lamb booting over a penalty from just in front of the 10-metre line.

But the referee lost patience with the visitors' pack and they were reduced to 14 men when flanker Sam Betty was sin-binned in his 100th appearance for the club.

Perry Humphreys put in a key tackle to prevent any more tries by half-time but another infringement enabled Canna to make the score 21-3 with another penalty.

Lamb could have narrowed the gap but hit the post with a penalty from five metres inside the touchline.

Warriors improved after the break despite the slippery conditions with better defending and promising runs from Lamb, Howard and Dean Hammond.

The impressive Canna extended Zebre's lead after he forced a penalty and did the honours with his boot on 47 minutes.

He added another three points for a 27-8 advantage in the 69th minute before Warriors' travelling fans finally had something to cheer.

With both teams making changes, Warriors bossed the final stages and wing Hammond rewarded their pressure with a try three minutes from time after bursting through the defence but it was too little too late.

Warriors: Howard; Humphreys (Biggs 16, back on 62), Stelling, Grove, Hammond; Lamb, Bruzulier (Mulchrone 65); Bower (Appiah 68), Bregvadze (Sowrey 66), Milasinovich (Rees 55), Sanderson, O'Shea, Kirwan, Betty, Mama (Cox 65). Replacements not used: Barry, Mills.