Head Coach Richard Hill had warned his team that Perpignan would be a very different animal on home soil and would ditch the conservative and pragmatic approach of a week earlier at Sixways in favour of a free flowing game.

His words rang true as the hosts looked to open up and play when possible, but they could not pull away from a well drilled and confident Warriors side that never looked outclassed and continued to battle right until the dying moments.

An early try from Richard Haughton ultimately proved the difference, as Andy Goode and James Hook traded kicks.

The result leaves Warriors and Perpignan locked together at the top of Pool 2 but with the French side in pole position due to a better record against Warriors in terms of tries scored in head to head games.

However, although the destiny of the last eight is now out of Worcester's hands, Hill was still full of praise for the character of his team after the game.

And he vowed his Warriors would keep battling over the final two rounds to try and wrestle back a place in the knockout stages.

A red-hot atmosphere greeted Warriors in Perpignan as over 10,000 fans packed into the compact Stade Aime Grial and the noise and tension was evident from the start as the hosts hunted a way back into the pool stages.

Fly half Goode got the game underway and it was Warriors who settled the better as Jon Clarke immediately went for a gap, after a home knock on, but was shunted into touch by some alert cover defence from the French.

A stolen lineout saw more visiting pressure with Semisi Taulava and Chris Jones making bit runs before Euan Murray won a penalty, as Perpignan failed to release him in the tackle.

But referee Ian Davies then reversed the decision for over-zealous use of the boot and relieved Perpignan cleared their lines after an early mini siege.

The home pack looked keen to respond to their under-par showing at Sixways a week earlier by bulldozing around the fringes while Adrien Plante wriggled out of a tackle.

Worcester, though, held firm and then ripped the ball in the tackle allowing scrum half Paul Hodgson to produce a neat kick down the line to pin the French side back once more.

Worcester continued to try and open up Perpignan up with quick wide ball from a lineout, but a knock on by Alex Grove from Nikki Walker's low pass saw another chance go astray.

An offside penalty against Warriors gave Hook the chance to open the scoring, but his kick from in front hit the top of the upright and bounced clear to the grateful Taulava.

Worcester seemed in control, but were suddenly behind in bizarre fashion. A high up and under from Hook caused confusion, as Taulava and Goode went for the same ball, and when the ball went loose it bounced kindly to Haughton who had the simple task of collecting and diving over with Hook's extras making it 7-0.

Worcester were fighting hard for possession on the floor but fell victim of referee Davies and Hook kicked for territory. Henry Tuilagi then ran straight at Goode from the lineout, but the fly half did well and Warriors won a penalty of their own as Perpignan dived over the top.

Recalled full back Errie Claassens countered well from deep with his trademark step before prop Ceri Jones proved a willing runner on his shoulder.

Hooker Ed Shervington also showcased his all-round ability with a clever kick and chase into space before a nasty bounce almost released home wing Farid Sid only for Claassens to rattle the wing back with a monster tackle.

Perpignan were searching for openings as Lifeimi Mafi looked to force a gap in midfield while Sid just managed to stay in field as he looked to break down the left. But a knock on allowed Worcester to show good continuity of their own as they kept the ball alive.

Worcester looked wide once more and won a penalty for not rolling away as both teams faced off as tempers flared. Then resulting lineout five metres out allowed the Worcester rolling maul to rumble up close with Taulava just short.

Warriors were dealt a blow on the half hour as captain Dean Schofield was forced off with an ankle injury and a penalty on the floor saw Hook extend the home lead to 10-0.

Taulava responded by producing a thundering run down the middle while Walker also blasted past tackles before Perpignan were guilty of side entry at the breakdown. Goode lined up the kick and, to the backdrop of deafening jeers, made the kick.

The good work, though, was undone within two minutes as a penalty for crossing allowed Hook to nudge the Catalans further ahead.

Worcester started the second half with plenty of fresh impetus and Grove spotted space to neatly kick in behind after Matt Kvesic and Neil Best had battered their way down the middle.

Home Number Eight Tuilagi peeled off back of scrum to cause problems and Bertrand Guiry and Alasdair Strokosch made more yards before replacement Joffrey Michel went close as Warriors frantically tackled back on their line.

Perpignan looked to make the pressure count at scrum time, but Worcester produced a massive shove and won the penalty to the anger of a disgruntled and increasingly restless home crowd.

Twice Goode mopped up loose possession and he then made no mistake with another superb long range penalty attempt from out wide to cut the lead to seven points.

Perpignan threatened a second try of the game as they rattled up close, but Worcester once again held firm and Claassens ripped the ball away before crashing a booming kick into open field.

Hill made a trio of changes just before the hour as Lutui, Arr and Andress all entered the cauldron like atmosphere.

Arr was nearly straight into the thick of the action when the racing Grove collecting a sharp bounce but could not quite find the scrum half in support as Perpignan regrouped.

Chris Jones produced a thumping tackle on Michel as Warriors continued to unload big hits before Luke Narraway almost freed his hands in the tackle to send Plante over.

Back came the Warriors as Claassens pinned them back with a sublime touch finder before a poor home lineout was gobbled up by Sam Betty. The forwards swarmed in support and Lutui looked to crash over but found himself isolated and conceded the penalty.

Perpignan's desperation to finish the game off as a contest showed as Hook badly missed a drop goal as the game entered the final quarter.

Hill continued to shuffle his line-up with Danny Gray making his welcome return for the final 15 minutes. But David Marty could have put the game to bed when he hacked a spilled back towards the line only for his next touch to put the ball into the stands.

Hook missed a simple penalty in the final ten minutes while Warriors mounted a final late charge that just fell short as Worcester were forced to settle for securing a deserved losing bonus point.

Timeline:

09m Haughton t Hook c 7-0

34m Hook p 10-0

36m Goode p 10-3

38m Hook p 13-3

51m Goode p 13-6

Warriors: 01 Ceri Jones (Porter 65), 02 Ed Shervington (Lutui 55), 03 Euan Murray (Andress 55), 04 Dean Schofield (Gillies 31), 05 Chris Jones, 06 Neil Best, 07 Matt Kvesic, 08 Semisi Taulava (Betty 58), 09 Paul Hodgson (Arr 55), 10 Andy Goode (Gray 65), 11 Andy Short, 12 Jon Clarke, 13 Alex Grove (Howard 74), 14 Nikki Walker, 15 Errie Claassens

Replacements: 16 Aleki Lutui, 17 George Porter, 18 John Andress, 19 Craig Gillies, 20 Sam Betty, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Danny Gray, 23 Ben Howard