Warriors too Goode for Sarries

Goode: Nudged over three penalties and a drop-goal

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Teams

• Saracens
• Worcester

Andy Goode kicked all of Worcester Warriors' points as they held on to a 12-3 victory over Saracens in the Aviva Premiership.

All of the action came in the first period as Goode added three penalties and a drop-goal to Nils Mordt's solitary three-pointer. Both team's pivots missed chances in the second half but Worcester deservedly came away with a third league victory of the season.

With few players away on international duty, the hosts were able to field a near full-strength team and their cohesiveness showed early on in this encounter when Goode slotted his first three-pointer.

But Saracens, who had a severely depleted squad, showed impressive resilience to level the scores almost immediately through Mordt.

It was Worcester who were the more composed side with their former England international controlling operations neatly from fly-half. And his penalty after 24 minutes regained the hosts' advantage.

Goode then struck just before the break with a drop-goal - having missed an earlier attempt - and a third penalty extended the lead to nine points at half-time.

If the first period was uneventful then the second was even worse. Although the respective fly-halves had an opportunity each to add to the score, both failed to find the target as it remained the same with an hour played.

Sam Stanley then had the chance to rescue a losing bonus-point for Sarries, but another effort missed the uprights as the Warriors took away the four points.

The scorers:

For Worcester:
Pens: Goode 3
Drop: Goode

For Saracens:
Pen: Mordt

Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Josh Matavesi, 12 Joe Carlisle, 11 Errie Claassens, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Semisi Taulava, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Neil Best, 5 Chris Jones, 4 James Percival (c), 3 John Andress, 2 Ed Shervington, 1 Ceri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Aleki Lutui, 17 Rob O'Donnell, 18 James Currie, 19 Dean Schofield, 20 Sam Betty, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Alex Grove, 23 Andy Short.

Saracens: 15 Ben Ransom, 14 David Strettle, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Kameli Ratuvou, 11 Duncan Taylor, 10 Nils Mordt, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Jackson Wray, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Jamie George, 1 Matt Stevens.
Replacements: 16 John Smit, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Lorenzo Romano 19 Eoin Sheriff, 20 Will Fraser, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Sam Stanley, 23 James Short.

Referee: Tim Wigglesworth