Worcester Warriors 12 London Irish 6

IT wasn’t pretty but Worcester Warriors ground out one of their most significant wins of the season to virtually assure Aviva Premiership rugby at Sixways next term.

Four penalties from the boot of injured fly-half Tom Heathcote was sufficient to give Warriors a club-record fourth successive top tier triumph in wet and windy conditions.

Heathcote shrugged off an early knock to play the full 80 minutes which was vital because Warriors didn’t have like-for-like cover on the bench after Ryan Lamb’s late withdrawal due to illness.

Warriors have now picked up five wins from their last six matches and are 16 points ahead of bottom-of-the-table Irish with just four fixtures remaining.

Irish and Newcastle Falcons now appear in a two-way shoot-out to avoid demotion to the Championship and will come face-to-face at Kingston Park on April 17.

Warriors’ defence was again outstanding – they haven’t conceded a try in their last two outings.

And veteran forwards Phil Dowson and Donncha O’Callaghan should take plaudits for their fully committed defensive duties in a bruising clash.

But Irish wasted two glorious openings early in the second-half which highlighted their lack of potency in attack.

Former Warrior Blair Cowan spilled an inside ball after Irish full-back Sean Maitland had surged through the midfield.

And centre Johnny Williams broke from deep to set up a try-scoring chance for Ciaran Hearn who failed to hold on to the ball with a clear run to the line.

Those missed opportunities in a game of few clear-cut scoring opportunities are likely to haunt Irish at the end of the campaign.

Buoyed by their victory against Worcester last month, Irish started off on the front foot and turned down an early penalty attempt at the posts.

Irish’s pressure came to nothing and Warriors also kicked to the corner twice instead of having a shot at the posts as both defences dominated.

With the majority of the 9,234 crowd watching nervously as the two sides battled for supremacy, Warriors finally applied some sustained pressure.

Hooker Niall Annett and prop Val Rapava Ruskin both drove towards the line before Irish were penalised at the breakdown.

Heathcote’s three-pointer put Warriors 3-0 ahead to break the deadlock after 26 hard-fought minutes.

Heathcote’s second penalty soon afterwards doubled Worcester’s lead but Irish kept pressing.

Bryce Heem needed to be alert to mop up after Ryan Mills’ kick after it had been charged down by Matt Symons inside Worcester's 22.

Worryingly the Worcester, Irish started to get the upper hand in the scrum at the beginning of the second half.

The visitors then created - and spurned - try scoring opportunities for Cowan and Hearn which would have transformed the match.

However, Warriors survived. Heathcote, who was still struggling with a shoulder problem, extended Warriors’ lead to nine points with his third penalty after 55 minutes.

Irish fly-half Greig Tonks finally put the visitors on the board with a penalty, ironically, after Warriors had enjoyed their best spell of the half which had included a surging break from scrum-half Francois Hougaard.

Heathcote’s fourth penalty stretched Worcester’s lead to 12-3 and the tension around Sixways started to ease.

Tonks replied with his second penalty with three minutes remaining to set up a grandstand finish. But Irish didn't have another opportunity.

Warriors' forwards regained the restart and confidently ran down the clock to achieve a a seventh win of the campaign.