Saturday, November 26, 2005

WARRIORS had to wait until the very last kick of the game before they could celebrate a nerve-jangling win at Northampton.

After Saints skipper Bruce Reihana's penalty drifted wide of the post in injury-time, the Worcester players jumped for joy as they stumped up another crucial victory and confirmed their status as Premiership surprise package of the season.

Shane Drahm, returning to his old stomping ground, overcame a couple of early missed kicks and sporadic heckling from the crowd to post all of Worcester's 22 points.

But it wasn't all plain sailing for the Australian and he had to play through the pain barrier for the last 15 minutes after a kick in the back sent him sprawling on the ground.

And it almost went horribly wrong in the dying seconds when Kai Horstmann was sent off for a deliberate foul at the breakdown and Reihana was given his punt at glory.

His miss let Worcester off the hook but, in truth, this game was more memorable for some bizarre decision-making by referee Wayne Barnes, than for the quality of play from either side.

Worcester began the game with the same side that beat Bristol eight days earlier with new hooker Gavin Hickie taking his place on the bench.

Fly-half Drahm was making his first appearance at Franklin's Gardens since his switch to Sixways in the summer. His old team have been struggling of late, having lost their last five Premiership games, but Drahm was not in the sympathetic mood and he put the first points on the board with a seventh-minute try.

He started the move himself when he released Thomas Lombard in his own half. The French centre stormed menacingly towards the try-line before he laid the ball off to Horstmann.

Though the flanker's pass went to ground, Drahm managed to pick the ball up, dummy a pass to Tony Windo and squeeze in at the corner beyond the desperate clutches of England wing Ben Cohen.

Drahm added the extras himself and, although he missed a tricky kick from the right, he made amends by firing over a pair of penalties from almost exactly the same spot.

Thinus Delport thought he had scored a second Worcester try in the 11th minute but Barnes pulled play back for a forward pass by Dale Rasmussen.

The game really hotted up on the half-hour mark with Horstmann getting sent to the sin bin for interfering with the ball at the ruck.

With the extra man, Northampton managed to drive over and Darren Fox peeled away from the maul to score a try.

Northampton's numerical advantage was wiped out when Seamus Mallon was yellow-carded for an offside and Drahm rubbed salt into the wounds with his third successful penalty of the day.

As half-time approached, Fox appeared to hold back Chris Fortey as he tried to claim the ball in the loose. A tussle then broke out between the two but Barnes took no action and chose instead to sin-bin Worcester numer eight Drew Hickey for a separate offence.

Horstmann looked like he had made up for lost time when he made the line just after the interval but the touch judge ruled that he had been nudged out of play after receiving the ball from Delport.

Saints took the lead when Rhodri Davies finished off a move that began with a scintillating break by outside half Carlos Spencer and they looked to be cruising when a Reihana penalty made the advantage five points.

But the stage was set for Drahm and he made no mistake with a pair of long-range penalties.

Despite an agonising last 10 minutes, the team hung on for the tightest of wins.

Warriors: Le Roux, Havili, Rasmussen, Lombard, Delport, Drahm, Gomarsall (Powell), Windo, Fortey (Hickie), Taumoepeau, Murphy (O'Donoghue), Gillies, Horstmann, Tuamoheloa, Hickey.

Scorers: Try: Drahm; Conversion: Drahm; Penalties: Drahm (five).

Warriors man-of-the-match: Drahm

Referee: Wayne Barnes

Attendance: 12,481