Gloucester triumph in sloppy encounter

Editor

Gloucester extended their unbeaten record at home in the league to 20 matches after a 29-8 win over near-neighbours Worcester.

Gloucester extended their unbeaten record at home in the league to 20 matches after a 29-8 win over near-neighbours Worcester.

However, Head Coach Bryan Redpath will know that his side will have to play much better if they are to make the play-offs for a second successive season.

Gloucester dominated the first half but were unable to add any further tries to Jonny May's intercept score after just seven minutes. Instead, they relied in the boot of Tim Taylor to build up a healthy half-time lead of 19-3, the former Nottingham man kicking four penalties as well as the conversion to May's try.

Worcester had to wait until the 36th minute before getting on the scoreboard, Joey Carlisle on the mark with his second attempt at goal. But shortly afterwards Worcester lost the services of wing Marcel Garvey after he was shown a yellow card by referee Luke Pearce who was officiating in his first-ever Premiership fixture.

The Cherry and Whites, though, were unable to make Worcester pay for being one man down, and the game continued to be punctuated by a number of errors by both sides.

Indeed, the third quarter passed by without a single point being scored with Andy Goode missing a 55th-minute shot at goal.

Freddie Burns, on as a second-half replacement for Taylor, eventually broke the deadlock with a penalty to make it 22-3.

Passing and handling remained of the lowest quality until Tom Voyce managed to add a second try with a simple run-in on 77 minutes and Burns landed the touchline conversion.

Dale Rasmussen went in at the corner right at the death to ensure the game finished on a bit of positive note for the Warriors, although Goode missed with the conversion with the final act.

The scorers:

For Gloucester:
Try: May, Voyce
Conversion: Taylor, Burns
Penalty: Taylor 4, Burns

For Worcester:
Try: Rasmussen
Penalty: Carslie

Yellow card: Garvey (Worcester)

Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Jonny May, 12 Lesley Vainikolo, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Tim Taylor, 9 Nick Runciman, 8 Matt Cox, 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Peter Buxton (capt), 5 Tom Savage, 4 Will James, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements:16 Nathan Charles, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Rupert Harden, 19 David Lyons, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Tom Voyce.

Worcester Warriors: 15 Errie Claassens, 14 Marcel Garvey, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Dale Rasmussen, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Joe Carlisle, 9 Shaun Perry, 8 Kai Horstmann (c), 7 Jake Abbott, 6 Neil Best, 5 Craig Gillies, 4 James Percival, 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 2 Chris Fortey, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Ed Shervington, 17 George Porter, 18 Bruce Douglas, 19 Chris Jones, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Andy Goode, 23 Tom Arscott.

Referee: Luke Pearce