WORCESTER Warriors made almost 300 tackles – three times as many as Exeter Chiefs – in their bruising 34-19 defeat at Sixways last Friday.

The hosts finished with a 93 per cent tackle success rate, making 271 and missing just 21, as Exeter had 72 per cent of possession in the fiercely-fought Premiership Cup clash.

Topping the tackle count was back-row bruiser Cornell du Preez who made a whopping 30 hits and did not miss one.

The Scotland international’s extraordinary efforts were almost matched by lock Andrew Kitchener who completed all his 28 tackles.

There were also perfect defensive records from replacement prop Kai Owen (22 tackles) and hooker Isaac Miller (18) – the latter was only on the field for 42 minutes before going off for a head injury assessment.

Fly-half Jono Lance demonstrated his robustness in defence, weighing in with 19 tackles and only missing one.

As well as making 16 hits without fail, flanker Sam Lewis made the most metres in the team with 44 from five carries.

Despite Chiefs’ dominance, Warriors led 12-7 at half-time and went 19-10 in front on 46 minutes when Tom Howe completed his hat-trick.

But Worcester paid the price for lack of discipline as Kitchener and then Caleb Montgomery saw yellow and the home side racked up 14 penalties compared to Exeter’s six.

Warriors also struggled in the set-piece, losing two of their eight scrums and two of their nine lineouts, and they conceded 14 turnovers.

Ex-Warriors back row Matt Kvesic made 24 carries against his former club and was rewarded with a try at the death that sealed the bonus point.

KEY STATS (according to ESPN).

Warriors/Chiefs Possession: 28 per cent/72 per cent.

Territory: 21 per cent/79 per cent.

Carries: 78/210.

Metres made: 242/516.

Turnovers conceded: 14/18.

Tackles made: 271/90.

Tackles missed: 21/9.

Scrums won: 6/8.

Scrums lost: 2/0.

Lineouts won: 7/16.

Lineouts lost: 2/1.

Penalties conceded: 14/6.

Yellow cards: 2/0.