WORCESTER Warriors ended their European Challenge Cup campaign on a disappointing note after a 35-11 defeat to French Top 14 side La Rochelle at the Stade Marcel Deflandre.

Warriors made an electric start as two Andy Symons penalties put them 6-0 ahead as the scrum dominated.

But La Rochelle clawed their way back into the contest as Zack Holmes levelled things up before the interval with two kicks of his own.

Carl Kirwan found himself yellow-carded before the break and the home side rallied in the second period with tries for Romana Graham, Benjamin Lapeyre, Kiri Murimurivalu and Jone Qovu with just a Luke Baldwin response from the visitors.

Warriors caused problems from the whistle as Tiff Eden swung the ball out wide to Dean Hammond, who was taken down just inside the 22.

But despite a knock-on ending the attack, the scrum held strong to win a penalty and Symons opened Warriors’ account with a sweetly-struck kick.

La Rochelle then broke into the Worcester 22 but the visitors pinched the line-out and raced up the other end before an infringement at the breakdown allowed Symons to add another three points.

Dan George, on his return to action, was forced off to be replaced by Ben Sowrey before Baldwin was penalised for not putting in straight at the scrum and Holmes got La Rochelle off the mark.

Warriors really put the home scrum under pressure as they won penalty after penalty and when GJ van Velze intercepted in La Rochelle territory, Eden cut a gap but his long pass fell too low for Ben Howard to gather and the chance went begging.

And when the French side raced up the other end, Holmes added a penalty to level the scores.

A crucial decision came just before the break as Kirwan was sent to the sin-bin following an altercation with La Rochelle number eight Qovu, who only received a talking-to for his part in the incident.

The French came out fighting after the interval and soon added a third penalty when Julien Audy chipped over.

And they extended their lead when flanker Graham hauled his way over while his side had a penalty advantage.

The vociferous home crowd roared their side on as they swooped down the right but, after a chip over the top, Howard couldn’t recover it cleanly for Warriors and Lapeyre pounced to score with Audy adding the extras.

Matt Cox came on for skipper van Velze for his 50th Warriors appearance and Worcester seemed to find some momentum with penalty after penalty by the try line and Thomas Synaeghel was yellow-carded for the hosts.

Scrum-half Baldwin hopped over for his second try in two games but bizarrely Symons missed the straightforward kick in front as he was charged down by Pierre Aguillon.

With 14 men, a conniving kick over the top from Jean-Pascal Barraque was met by Murimurivalu, who collected to dive over with Audy adding two more points with the boot to put La Rochelle out of sight.

And Qovu burrowed over at the bottom of a driving maul to complete a disappointing European experience for a young Warriors side.

Warriors: Howard 6 (Humphreys 72); Short 7, Symons 6, Mills 7 (Stelling 78), Hammond 7; Eden 6, Baldwin 7 (Mulchrone 72); Rapava Ruskin 8 (Bower 69), George 6 (Sowrey 21, 5), Schonert 8 (Daniels 69), O’Callaghan 7 (Taylor 78), Sanderson 7, Mama 7, Kirwan 7, van Velze 7 (Cox 57, 6).

Attendance: 12,000.