WORCESTER Rugby Club helped themselves to six tries in a 39-0 pre-season friendly win against Pontypool at a rain-soaked Sixways.

New scrum-half signing Elton Moncrieff had an outstanding 40 minutes, running in two tries himself and setting up numerous attacking options from the base of the scrum.

His former Gloucester team mate and fellow newcomer Chris Yates also impressed, making some powerful runs from inside centre whereas Chris Garrard proved why he was selected for the Australian sevens side as his turn of pace gave him a try in each half.

Worcester coach John Brain will be pleased with the overall fitness of the squad as Pontypool were outclassed throughout the game, but difficult handling conditions led to a scrappy end of match.

The first-half started in tremendous fashion as Moncrieff dived on a chipped through ball from wing Alistair Murdoch to open the scoring.

Fly-half Tony Yapp missed the conversion from out wide, but Worcester doubled their points just minutes later as Garrard finished off a centre-field break from Yapp.

Former rugby league centre Scott Barrow cut through two Pontypool defenders to set up a third try for former England and British Lions flanker Ben Clarke; and a conversion from Yapp gave Worcester a 17-0 lead.

Pontypool's luck went from bad to worse as hooker Leighton Jones was sin-binned for stamping on 25 minutes and Worcester seized the opportunity to attack 14 men with a fourth try by Moncrieff and a conversion from Yapp's boot.

The home side came out of the break 24-0 ahead, but worsening conditions in the second-half limited further scoring opportunities.

Yapp added a drop goal on 45 minutes, but the home support had to wait until the final quarter of play before Garrard's pace again proved too much for the tiring Welsh visitors.

Replacement hooker Chris Hall added try number six after a five-yard penalty, but Worcester paid the price for trying too much too soon in the final 15 minutes and let Pontypool back into the match.

Worcester: Hinshelwood; Garrard, Barrow, Yates, Murdoch; Yapp, Moncrieff; Davies, Ross, Moreno, Morgan, Zaltzman, Clarke, Jones, Jenner.

Replacements: Tuipulotu, Trueman, Smith, Windo, Hall, Lyman, Soper, Evans, Carter.

* Meanwhile, Worcester went down 45-0 against a well-drilled Northampton side in the first round of the Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham.

Worcester, who were invited following a late withdrawal, fielded a side mainly made up of Under 21 players.

They were out-classed by a Premiership side packed full of internationals in-cluding Jon Sleightholme, Nick Beal, Andrew Blowers, Tom Smith, Luca Martin and Martin Leslie.