On a night of high drama and tension, a try from Scotland international centre Alex Grove and late penalty from replacement Danny Gray looked to have given Warriors a sensational away win in the league.

But in the very final play of the game, Gloucester mounted one more attack with Jonny May sprinting down the left wing and halted by the covering Claassens.

When the ball was worked in field a knock on in midfield seemed to have given Warriors the win with time now up. Celebrations from the away fans started in earnest.

However, in one huge final twist referee David Rose consulted with his touch judge for a potential trip on May and, after several agonising minutes of deliberation, awarded a penalty try and brandished red to Claassens to leave shellshocked Warriors heartbroken and stunned.

Sport can be a cruel game and Head Coach Richard Hill and his players were left to contemplate another shuddering blow so late on after late drama had also overshadowed the derby between the two local rivals earlier in the season at Sixways.

The Sixways boss, though, remained defiant after the game and demanded his Warriors channel any frustration and anger into a reaction when London Wasps arrive at Sixways next Friday night.

The game had started with Warriors having made a late change, as wing Josh Drauniniu was called up to the replacements bench, while home skipper Mike Tindall was ruled out for Gloucester after the warm-up.

A frenetic opening saw Worcester back row Matt Kvesic manufacture an early turnover and when the penalty was awarded by referee Rose the decision was taken to go for the posts.

Fly half Andy Goode hit his effort straight and true, but it rebounded off the crossbar and away to safety.

Ed Shervington carried strongly as Warriors looked to offload and move home players around to create early space, while a knock on allowed Gloucester to counter and win a first penalty for not rolling away that Rob Cook slotted for the lead.

Cook then sparked a break from deep as he darted through a gap and was only halted by David Lemi racing back to haul him down. Worcester, though, were on the back foot and a penalty for offside gave the home full back another simple three points.

Gloucester had come out of traps firing and when Tim Molenaar kicked in behind it was pace ace May who was inches from touching down for the opening try of the game.

Kvesic and Matavesi looked to spark Worcester back into life with some powerful running lines while Dean Schofield collected Cook's deft chip and Claassens almost broke off two tackles as he handed off Trinder.

Goode opened the Worcester score with a sweetly struck penalty on 16 minutes after Gloucester infringed at the breakdown and then produced a peach of a clearing kick from deep inside his 22 as Warriors looked to settle after a lightening quick start from the hosts.

Solid defence was called upon from Worcester to keep Gloucester at bay as the home side looked to drive down the middle as the forwards repeatedly carried with venom.

However, the high penalty count was now threatening to hurt Warriors as Schofield was harshly adjudged to have not rolled away, only for Cook to make a mess of the resulting kick as it drifted wide left of the posts.

Gloucester threatened an opening score when Trinder tore down the middle on the field and, with a penalty already awarded, the home side bundled up close before just being halted short of the whitewash.

When order was restored, Betty was yellow carded and Gloucester sensed the time to strike as they turned down a kick at the posts and instead went for the corner. A second driving maul rumbled up to the line, but the home side then knocked on in sight of the try line.

A man light up front, Warriors moved Matavesi int0 the scrum and, with Gloucester over eager to try and take advantage, the penalty went to the visitors to relieve the mounting pressure.

Goode looked to play a territory game with a neat kick in behind that forced Cook into a hurried clearance under pressure from Matavesi.

The centre then scored the opening try of the game from nowhere with a moment of pure magic as he collected a difficult low pass from Goode and stepped inside Trinder before racing through the resulting gap and over unopposed for the lead.

Worcester needed to keep the door shut until the break, but they were hit by a fluid counter attack from deep almost immediately as May and Trinder combined to send the young England centre over as Gloucester retook the lead within two minutes.

Tom Savage then cut a superb line from the restart as Gloucester threatened again from distance. But a brilliant hit by Pennell on May saw the penalty awarded for holding on and the wing was just short with a long range kick from inside his own half on half-time.

Worcester were caught trying to run the ball out of their own 22 at the start of the second half and Cook drilled home the resulting penalty to extend the lead to six points two minutes after the restart.

Scrum half Jonny Arr was then penalised for late hit, after referee Rose consulted with his TMO, and Ryan Mills stroked home the kick as Gloucester started to build a big lead.

Matavesi produced a sublime offload out the back of a tackle as Warriors hunted a foothold and the penalty for not rolling away this time went against the hosts and Goode did the rest from range.

Sharples sliced a kick down the line to give Worcester field position before Cowan took a quick tap penalty to try and force the home side back but the ball was spilled in contact and the opportunity lost.

Lemi came off his wing to make yards and when Worcester came back in field through Kvesic they won the penalty. However, Goode looked to catch Gloucester napping with a cross field kick but failed to find a Worcester player as his kick spiraled away.

Warriors were looking to play in the home half and when Matavesi tap tackled Nick Wood the Gloucester cover came in from the side and the penalty went against the Cherry and Whites. This time Goode went for the posts but dragged his effort left of the uprights.

Gloucester then pressed the self-destruct button in catastrophic fashion as they looked to play a quick one but after some quick handling threw an intercept that Grove picked off and raced over. Goode added the extras for a dramatic 20-19 lead.

It proved to be a hobbling Goode's last involvement as along with Shervington he was taken off to cheers from the travelling faithful.

Replacement Drauniniu produced a thrilling run from deep and a delightful offload to Lutui on his shoulder as the game started to open up in the last quarter.

Gloucester retook the lead through the book of Cook with ten minutes left as Warriors were penalised in the shadow of the posts.

Worcester responded with Pennell producing a strong run from deep to find a gap before Worcester went through the forward to force a penalty of their own. Gray lined up his first kick of the game and drilled it home for the lead with six minutes left.

Tension was building as the game entered the final minutes with Worcester within touching distance of glory.

But one last attack saw May fly down the left wing and when he was tripped by Claassens the late drama intensified as Rose went to his TMO before delivering the devastating blow to Warriors.

Timeline:

06m Cook p 3-0

08m Cook p 6-0

16m Goode p 6-3

37m Matavesi t Goode c 6-10

39m Trinder t Cook c 13-10

42m Cook p 16-10

44m Mills p 19-10

46m Goode p 19-13

61m Grove t Goode c 19-20

70m Cook p 22-20

74m Gray p 22-23

80m Penalty t Cook c 29-23

Warriors: 01 Matt Mullan, 02 Ed Shervington (Lutui 64), 03 Euan Murray (Andress 68), 04 James Percival, 05 Dean Schofield (Gillies 61), 06 Sam Betty (Abbott 68, Betty 79), 07 Matt Kvesic, 08 Blair Cowan, 09 Jonny Arr (Hodgson 68), 10 Andy Goode (Gray 64), 11 David Lemi, 12 Josh Matavesi (Drauniniu 61), 13 Alex Grove, 14 Chris Pennell, 15 Errie Claassens

Replacements: 16 Aleki Lutui, 17 Ceri Jones, 18 John Andress, 19 Craig Gillies, 20 Jake Abbott, 21 Paul Hodgson, 22 Danny Gray, 23 Josh Drauniniu