Warriors fight back to secure win at Hartpury

Worcester Warriors came away from Hartpury with a victory after coming back from behind and playing 50 minutes of the game with 14 men.

The win sees the Warriors end block one of the Elior Champ season with five wins from five.

It was the hosts who took an early lead in Gloucestershire as they broke down the far wing before the pass inside found full-back Brad Denty to cross.

And Hartpury had a second just before the twenty-minute mark, breaking into the Worcester 22 following an intercept and winger Charlie Powell extending his side's lead.

Warriors fought themselves back into the game, responding to the hosts' second quickly with a driving maul motoring towards the line before James Cherry peeled off to crash over.

With thirty minutes of the game gone, the Warriors were reduced to 14 men when Siva Naulago saw red following an incident at the ruck, with Hartpury’s Noah Williams shown yellow for his involvement.

Hartpury’s fly-half Harry Bazalgette extended his side's lead from a penalty, but it was the Warriors who crossed the try-line next, with patient build-up play getting them into Hartpury’s 22 before Tim Anstee was sent through the gap in the defensive line to score his side's second of the game.

But on the stroke of the half, Bazalgette added a second penalty to give his side an 18-12 lead at the break.

The hosts' lead was extended eight minutes into the second half when centre Robbie Smith broke through the line off a scrum for his side's third of the game.

Worcester’s dominance in the scrum applied serious pressure on the Hartpury line, winning back-to-back penalties before two phases later captain Matt Kvesic crashed over to narrow the gap to six with 17 minutes to go.

And that gap was narrowed to just one point four minutes later when more pressure and penalties built up before the ball was spread wide to Louis Brown, who finished well out wide.

Hartpury’s replacement prop Harry Wright was shown a yellow card for a build-up of penalties and the Warriors took advantage of the numbers levelling.

It was scrum-half Will Lane who put Worcester ahead when he broke down the blindside wing from a driving maul to cross in the corner, with Will Reed adding the conversion to put the Warriors six points ahead.

Reed extended the gap to 9 points with a penalty of his own, and with Hartpury pushing for a way back into the game, Bazalgette added his third penalty to narrow Worcester’s lead, but the Warriors held on to secure a fifth win from five to start the season.

Hartpury 28

T – Brad Denty 5’, Charlie Powell 17’, Robbie Smith 48’

C – Harry Bazalgette 5’, 48’

P – Harry Bazalgette 31’, 40’, 76’

YC – Noah Williams 31’, Harry Wright 67’

Warriors 34

T – James Cherry 28’, Tim Anstee 38’, Matt Kvesic 63’, Louis Brown 67’, Will Lane 71’

C – Will Reed 38’, 63’, 71’

P – Will Reed 74’

RC – Siva Naulago 31’

Hartpury Team

15 Brad Denty (Evan Morris 74’), 14 Charlie Powell, 13 Robbie Smith, 12 Ollie Allsopp, 11 Ollie Holiday (Josiah Edwards-Giraud 71’), 10 Harry Bazalgette, 9 Cai Gealy (Sam Allford 70’); 1 Henry Feeney (Harry Edwards 63’), 2 Will Crane © (Casey Williams 74’), 3 Alex Gibson (Harry Wright 63’), 4 Jack Davies ©, 5 Dale Lemon, 6 Peter Paramore, 7 Caio James (Harry Short 70’), 8 Jay Evans (Noah Williams 23’)

Warriors Team

15 Louis Brown, 14 Jake Garside, 13 Siva Naulago, 12 Tom Seabrook (Rory Taylor 76’), 11 Will Trewin (Alfie Garside 63’), 10 Will Reed, 9 Will Lane; 1 Billy Keast (Cam Miell 53’(Keast 78’)), 2 Austin Wallis (Jack Dickinson 53’), 3 Fraser Balmain (Ashley Challenger 65’), 4 Tom Savage, 5 John Hawkins (James Tyas 63’), 6 Tim Anstee, 7 Matt Kvesic ©, 8 James Cherry (Owain Evans 53’)

Unused - 21 Noah Cowan