WORCESTER Warriors clinched their first trophy of the Dean Ryan era with an emphatic 35-5 victory in the British and Irish Cup final against Doncaster Knights at a rain-swept Castle Park.

Warriors overpowered their hosts in a one-sided first-half as they ran in four tries to open up an unassailable 29-0 lead at the interval.

Young fly-half Tiff Eden produced a fine performance, kicking 15 points, but their forward power, with Ofa Fainga'anuku, Dan George and Joe Rees all outstanding, most impressed.

A delighted Jean-Baptiste Bruzulier lifted the trophy much to the adulation of the travelling Warriors’ fans.

Three tries in the opening 19 minutes sent Warriors on their way to victory and, despite a spirited second-half display from Doncaster, the result was never in doubt.

The visitors deservedly took the lead in the seventh minute with a fine try from winger Dean Hammond, who picked up a smart pass from Eden and used his strength to brush off a couple of tackles to score under the posts.

Eden added the conversion but was off target with a 30-metre penalty soon afterwards as Warriors’ forwards dominated in wet conditions.

Alex Grove bagged Worcester’s second try in the 13th minute after Cooper Vuna used his power to compete for Eden’s cross-field kick.

The forwards powered in at the breakdown and, when the ball rolled loose, Grove dived on to it.

Eden’s excellent conversion stretched Worcester’s lead to 14-0.

Worcester grabbed a third try when Bruzulier got on the end of a driving maul after Eden had kicked to the corner.

Their scrum started to have a major impact and Doncaster hooker Ben Hunter was shown a yellow card.

Doncaster were caught off-side and Eden landed a 30-metre penalty.

Worcester’s front row continued to dominate at the set-piece but Eden’s long-range penalty dropped short of the posts.

The Worcester power told again when James Percival and Matt Cox were denied inches short of the line and Richard de Carpentier slipped a pass to hooker Dan George, who dived over from close-range.

Eden made no mistake from the conversion to extend Worcester’s lead to 29-0.

Doncaster enjoyed their first spell of pressure but a crunching tackle from Percival on Latiume Fosita knocked the ball loose.

The hosts got their reward in the 53rd minute when Hunter was driven over from a line-out.

However, referee Andy Brace stopped Dougie Flockhart’s conversion attempt after ruling the player had taken too long.

Warriors were reduced to 14 men on the hour when Cox was shown a yellow card for a high tackle but Eden kept the scoreboard ticking over with two quick-fire penalties.

Warriors hooker George was shown a yellow card and Charlie Mulchrone made a superb try-saving tackle on Tyson Lewis before Worcester’s players and supporters celebrated wildly at the final whistle.

Warriors: Howard; Hammond, Grove, Fatiaki (Humphreys 59), Vuna (Mieres 69); Eden, Bruzulier (Mulchrone 57); Fainga'anuku (Ruskin 72), George, Rees (Daniels 57), Percival, Sanderson, Cox (Taylor 79), Gilbert (Sowrey 79), de Carpentier. Attendance: 2,866.