Saracens 42 Worcester 13

WORCESTER Rugby Club's Tetley's Bitter Cup hopes fizzled out yesterday when they went down 42-13 to a slick Saracens side at Vicarage Road.

However, despite the hefty defeat, Adrian Skeggs' side enjoyed some good moments and actually led 3-0 for the first 20 minutes against the Premiership leaders.

Sateki Tuipulotu, in at the last minute after passing a fitness test, had given the National Division One pacesetters the early start they wanted with a penalty and dogged defending from the visitors made a number of the 5,183 crowd believe an upset was on the cards.

Mathew Back almost put winger Spencer Bromley in for a try after six minutes as Worcester began to impose themselves on the match.

However, as Worcester moved through the gears, Saracens went into overdrive.

The home side began to push the visitors back after 10 minutes and only fine defending from the outstanding Rudi Keil kept them at bay. Keil, playing against Francois Pienaar's side - his Springbok hero, never let his head drop all afternoon and put in some fine tackles.

However, there was little the South African could do to prevent the home side from taking the lead in the 21st minute.

Fly half Duncan McRae began a magnificent afternoon's display by putting in Darragh O'Mahony for a well-worked try. It was a beautifully flighted pass from the Australian which gave O'Mahony little to do for the five points. McRae slotted home the conversion from a seemingly impossible angle to put Saracens 7-3 up.

A great break from legendary centre Tim Horan extended their lead six minutes later as the Watford side began to take a grip on the game. McRae was again on target with the extra points.

Three minutes later, Richard Jarman completely missed a tackle on Tony Roques and the flanker duly sprinted through for the third try of the afternoon.

The Kiwi's error played on his mind for the next five minutes until he lost his cool and petulantly threw the ball down in front of referee.

It was a moment of madness from the Kiwi who was then ordered to the sin-bin for his response.

From that minute, any chance Worcester had of an upset went up in smoke and Saracens ran in their fourth try just before half time when Ben Johnston shimmied past two Sixways players on the line to touch down. McRae kept his 100 per cent kicking record intact with the following conversion.

The second half opened up with music from Jaws but initially, there was little bite from the home side as Tuipulotu slotted home his second penalty of the day to slightly narrow the gap.

However, the renaissance did not last long as Tom Shanklin's mazy run ended with Back on the floor and another five points on the board for the home side. Game, set and match. McRae was once again spot on with the extra points as Saracens led 35-6.

However, to their credit, Worcester refused to give in and backed by some phenomenal vocal support from the 1,000 plus visiting crowd they got their just reward.

Tuipulotu started the move with a great sidestep and his pass found substitute Alistair McLean who beat three players with a great run to put in skipper Alistair Murdoch.

The Australian still had a lot to do but outpaced the Saracens defence with a 30-yard run to touch down. It was a golden moment for the former Bedford coach who deserved the try for his overall efforts this season. Tuipulotu kept his 100 per cent record intact with the conversion.

However, the visitors were not to have the last word as full-back Gerald Arasa wriggled his way through the Worcester defence to make it 40-13 and the conversion soon followed.

Worcester: Back, Tuipulotu, Murdoch (Yapp 80), Keil, Bromley (McLean 62), Calder, Jarman, Lyman, Lamerton (Moretti 70), Collins (Windo 62), Sims, Denhardt (Webster 62), Evans, Carter, Fryday.