Saturday, January 18, 2003

THEY say that luck evens itself out over a season. Worcester are still waiting.

Ben Hinshelwood's cries of anguish rang around Sixways on Saturday like a death knell as Worcester's star player collapsed in agony midway through the first half.

The broken bone in his left leg was a cruel blow for the Scottish international whose season so far had hit the very heights for club and country.

Cruel for the centre and potentially devastating for Worcester's promotion hopes which will be severely tested at Exeter on Saturday. They have already lost Mark Gabey, Richard Bates and David Officer with long-term injuries but, you have to suspect, Hinshelwood's absence of around six weeks will be the most damaging yet.

It was yet another reminder of the ephemeral nature of sport. At the very top one minute, dragged to the depths the next. For the second National One match in succession, supporters were left to rue their bad luck when the thoughts should have been overwhelmingly positive.

Worcester played in patches against a rather redundant Otley side and still racked up nine tries. What was encouraging, however, was their set piece. The lineout and scrum has sometimes been an area of concern this season but not on Saturday. The lineout performed at its best while the forwards dominated the scrum against a weighty Otley pack. It sent out a clear signal to Exeter's Ian Bremner and Dave Sims, watching on from the stands, that the Chiefs' pack cannot expect to dominate at the County Ground.

One of those reasons will be Craig Quinnell. The Welsh international made a big impression in his first 56 minutes for Worcester, using all of his 20 stone to good use. Quinnell was last out of the tunnel as the Warriors took to the field, spurting water from his mouth into the air as he began his play to the crowd. And it was the 6ft 7in forward who set up the opening try in the fifth minute when he burst through the midfield before off-loading to Hinshelwood who sped in to touch down. Quinnell's sheer presence was a huge boost for Worcester, shorn of Gabey and Bates, and showed immediately just how powerful he will be at this level.

Chris Catling then added a bit of magic to proceedings when, with very little support on the left, he decided to go it alone with a delightful chip and chase. The full back outsprinted Ian Shuttleworth to the ball for a classic try and another example of the high-risk, high reward ethos drummed into the players at Worcester.

After seeing their captain stetchered off soon after, the players should be commended for the way they responded. It would have been utterly understandable for a hangover to overcome them but they remained professional and got on with the job.

Gary Trueman waltzed in for the third before Tim Walsh took advantage of some slack defensive work to seal the bonus point with the fourth try of the day. Trueman bagged his second, just before the break, and after Walsh hit over his fifth conversion Worcester led 35-0 at half time.

Duncan Roke began the second half in trademark fashion after Otley were driven back and the centre danced his way to the line. Walsh somehow missed the conversion but Worcester were simply too powerful for the Yorkshire visitors either in the pack or along the back line. Their woes continued when Neil Law was sin-binned soon after.

Catling then demonstrated his class once again when, after fooling the Otley midfield with two superb dummies, he put in Nnamdi Ezulike for the winger's first of the day. Replacement James Brown marked his return to action, after three months out with a back injury, with the conversion. Otley punctuated the barrage with a Rob Whatmuff try and a Simon Binns conversion but they were soon back on the defensive.

Neil Lyman continued the forward domination with some fine build up work before Roke sped in for his second try. And after Brown's premature exit, because of a blood injury, he converted his own effort. Otley hit back once more with a Law try but the final word came from Worcester as referee David Rose awarded them a penalty try following continued Otley infringement.

A positive end to a mixed day for Worcester. Time, though, will be the final judge of just how mixed.

Worcester: Catling 8, Ezulike 7, Hinshelwood 7, Trueman 8, Roke 7; Walsh 8, O'Reilly 6; Windo 7, Hall 7, NLYMAN 9, Zaltzman 7, Gillies 8, Quinnell 7, Pfister 7, Evans 8.

Replacements: Richardson 7 (Hinshelwood 20), Brown 6 (Walsh 56), Wigram 7 (Trueman 44), Pearson 7 (Hall 56), Davis, Morgan 6 (Gillies 66), Jenner 6 (Quinnell 56).

Man of the match: Great display from the pack and Lyman was the pick.