Saturday, October 2, 2004

IF this was a relegation ding-dong then only one team lived up to the billing.

Worcester simply had too much quality for Quins and if their coach Mark Evans couldn't see this crisis coming, he knows he's in deep trouble now.

The Premiership new boys clinically carved apart their illustrious opposition from the opening minute, first to everything and always one step ahead upstairs.

Worcester out-thought and out-muscled Quins but, crucially, had the technique and composure to finish the job off. In front of a roaring 7,235 crowd, it was a hugely significant day for the club as they gloriously secured their first ever Premiership victory.

If the players deserve the lion's share of the credit, however, a word must be given to the coaches after the performance of Worcester's pack and their tactics through the backs.

After all, it was their call to bring man of the match Matt Powell out of the shadows while Ben Hinshelwood and Dale Rasmussen's tactical switch paid dividends.

Powell looked like a man possessed as he ran down every ball as if his life depended on it and he, along with another former Quins favourite Pat Sanderson, ran the Premiership's bottom team ragged with their boundless energy and speed of thought.

Indeed, Worcester's opening try came on the back of Powell's determination as he forced a line-out inside Harlequins' 22. A clean Craig Gillies' catch was backed up by a powerful drive and Sanderson peeled off to give the Warriors the lead.

The scrum-half was involved in Worcester's second, soon after, as his burst set up Hinshelwood, appearing on the wing, for a thrilling counter-attacking try. James Brown added his second conversion and suddenly, after four opening defeats, the feel-good factor was back at Sixways.

Quins gave themselves a glimmer through Luke Sherriff's converted score but Worcester never looked as if they would throw this away. Indeed, after the visitors were reduced to 14 men following Gavin Duffy's 45th-minute yellow card, replacement Siaosi Vaili was bundled over to hammer home the advantage.

Further tries from Lee Fortey and Brown sealed a deserved bonus point on an afternoon where the fly half finished with four conversions. It was a day when Worcester finally lost their 'plucky losers' tag and looked utterly at home on the big stage.

True enough, they are not likely to meet anybody as awful as Harlequins on a regular basis but this win spoke more of future possibilities than a mere points difference on the scoreboard.

Of course, the victory had its very foundations in their hunger and belief but Worcester not only wanted it more, they had the ability to impose themselves upon a team who looked to have clung onto their Premiership security blanket for too long.

One game hardly defines a season but, you have to suspect, the emphatic nature of this triumph will now transfer that suffocating fear of failure to the Stoop.

For Worcester, the mental shackles were finally cast off on a day where the belief which engulfed Sixways simply shattered Quins.

Worcester: Delport 7; Rasmussen 8, Hinshelwood 7, Lombard 7, Gollings 7; Brown 7, LPOWELL 9; Windo 8, Daly 8, Lyman 8, Collier 7, Gillies 7, Greeff 6, Sanderson 8, Hickey 8.

Replacements: Sparks 6 (Windo 68), Fortey 7 (Lyman 55), Van Niekerk (Vaili 71), Vaili 7 (Greeff 17), Gabey 7 (Collier 51), Stuart-Smith 6 (Powell 67), O'Leary.

Man of the match: MATT POWELL -- Inspired display by the former Quins man.