“OUTSTANDING” Chris Latham personified Worcester Warriors’ sterling performance to hold second-placed London Irish to a 16-16 Guinness Premiership draw, according to director of rugby Mike Ruddock.

The Sixways boss was proud of the way his side used a cunning kicking game to dominate territory, particularly when they twice went down to 14 men in the first-half, but denied the Exiles possession and the chance to put points on the board.

The Welshman said: “Our kicking game was strong and that was typified by Chris, who was outstanding, with his kick right at the end which rolled into the corner.

“Well done to London Irish, though, as they got themselves out of a tricky situation there with a good line-out. If we could have pinched that one, we could have snatched a last-minute victory.

“It wasn’t just our kicking game, though, I thought our fielding game was excellent. We caught a lot of contestable kicks and dominated the aerial battle.”

He added: “There’s not much in these games at the moment but I thought we did ever so well.

“We had two yellow cards in the first-half. The second one was definite and I have no problem with that but the first one was after an altercation with quite a few people involved, so it was tough to single out just one of our guys. Those sort of decisions can really hurt you.

“When we were down to 14, it was a big test for us and our game management was good — we made some really good decisions.

“We were pretty smart most of the time and didn’t just sit on the game to try and kill time. We went out and tried to play a bit of rugby.

“On both occasions, we kicked penalties after having fine field position following good passages of play, so we seized the initiative, which was nice to see, rather than letting Irish come at us.”

Rico Gear was handed a start on the right wing ahead of Marcel Garvey and Ruddock praised the Kiwi.

He said: “I think Rico did really well — he put in a massive hit in the first-half, which is what I asked the boys for before the game.

“I wanted catalysts to lift everyone, both in defence and attack, and I think Rico did that. He was strong and forceful every time he got the ball.

“It was horses for courses really, which is why I played Rico instead of Marcel. I knew they’d kick quite a lot in behind us and Rico would have an edge in experience under those circumstances.

“I think he proved that as he fielded the high ball really well and ran strongly when he had the opportunity.”