Worcester Warriors produced an excellent display to thrash Bristol 52-7 at Sixways and move ahead of Sunday’s opponents in the Premiership table.
It was Pat Lam’s men who actually began on the front foot with Yann Thomas touching down, but Worcester responded brilliantly with 31 unanswered points in the first half.
Chris Pennell got them on the scoreboard from the tee before GJ van Velze, Ryan Mills, Marco Mama and Francois Venter crossed the whitewash for a comfortable buffer at the interval.
Pennell and Josh Adams then touched down as the pain continued for the West Countrymen, but the Welshman’s 46th minute effort was the final score until the last play of the game when Bryce Heem crossed.
Bristol had adapted well to life in the Premiership but, despite starting this match impressively and regularly testing the hosts’ defence early on, it turned into an embarrassing afternoon.
Samoan duo Alapati Leiua and Jack Lam were initially prominent and it was the number eight that created the match’s opening score by making an incursion through the heart of the Worcester rearguard. The home side failed to organise quickly enough and prop Thomas took a neat line off Andy Uren’s shoulder to touch down.
Alan Solomons’ men were then tested a minute later but they soon began to display their quality with Pennell kicking a penalty.
The Warriors’ forwards then showed their muscle in the loose, carrying hard and laying a platform for Francois Hougaard. The South African scrum-half, as he always seems to do for the Midlanders, duly dictated play and that created the space for Heem to send Van Velze over.
Heem was a constant threat and Lam’s charges were regularly being sent into reverse. At some point they had to break and it was no surprise to see Mills finish after a series of phases inside the opposition 22.
Mama followed the centre across the whitewash before Venter rounded off an excellent 40 minutes for the hosts by intercepting a loose pass and running 80 metres to score.
Worcester continued to dominate in the second half and Pennell was the next to go over from close range, opening a 31-point buffer.
Bristol were being outplayed and, as a result, they started to force the play. That resulted in errors and Adams pounced when another mistake ended in the Wales international wing intercepting and touching down unopposed.
With the game already won, the home side eased off and that allowed the visitors to prevent further embarrassment over the next half-hour. Bristol were also helped by Ryan Bower’s red card, who received his marching orders for hitting Will Hurrell’s head with his shoulder, but Worcester deservedly had the final say through Heem.
The scorers:
For Worcester:
Tries: Van Velze, Mills, Mama, Venter, Pennell, Adams, Heem
Cons: Weir 7
Pen: Pennell
Red Card: Bower
For Bristol:
Try: Y Thomas
Con: Madigan
Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 GJ van Velze (c), 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Marco Mama, 5 Darren Barry, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Callum Black
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Pierce Phillips, 20 Ted Hill, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 Jono Lance, 23 Perry Humphreys
Bristol: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Will Hurrell, 12 Siale Piutau (cc), 11 Alapati Leiua, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Jack Lam, 7 George Smith, 6 Steve Luatua (cc), 5 Joe Joyce, 4 Ed Holmes, 3 John Afoa, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Yann Thomas
Replacements: 16 Nick Fenton-Wells, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Jake Armstrong, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Dan Thomas, 21 Nic Stirzaker, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Ryan Edwards
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Matthew O’Grady, Paul Dix
TMO: Rowan Kitt