Warriors' fight against drop still foggy after late try sickener (From Malvern Gazette)

Warriors' fight against drop still foggy after late try sickener

8:00pm Sunday 23rd December 2007 in Local By Sports Desk

WORCESTER Warriors lost their way in the dense fog that enveloped the Madjeski Stadium as London Irish snatched victory with a last-gasp try.

It was a bitter pill for the visitors to swallow as they had been the equal of the Exiles for large parts of the game but Saliosi Tagicakibau's 77th-minute score settled the encounter in the home side's favour.

Warriors just about deserved a share of the points but missed tackles by Rico Gear and Dale Rasmussen allowed the hosts' left winger to scamper through and sentence Mike Ruddock's men to an eighth consecutive league defeat.

The game began with Steffon Armitage going over in the corner, but good work by hooker Aleki Lutui and wing Marcel Garvey managed to hold the flanker up and prevent the try.

However, from the scrum that followed, England scrum-half Peter Richards made a break for the line, he was stopped short, but prop Richard Skuse was on hand to crash over for the opening score.

Full-back Delon Armitage added the conversion to give the Exiles an early 7-0 lead.

Stand-off Shane Drahm then reduced Irish's lead with a well-struck penalty after the hosts had strayed offside.

Chris Pennell was harshly adjudged to have knocked on when trying to field a Shane Geraghty high kick, even though it looked like a home hand made contact with the ball.

Justice was done though as a strong Warriors' scrum turned the ball over and the visitors cleared their lines.

The Warriors' pack was enjoying some early dominance, but an opportunity was lost from an attacking line-out when the ball broke out of the ruck and Tagicakibau broke down the flank, but a tackle by Gear managed to put the wing into touch.

Another strong forward drive took Worcester deep into Irish territory but, when the ball was recycled, Drahm's lapse in concentration resulted in a knock-on and the chance was lost.

In the 28th minute, Armitage missed a straight-forward chance to extend his side's lead, but pushed his kick wide.

The full-back made amends four minutes later, though, when he slotted a penalty after All Black centre Sam Tuitupou, making his Guinness Premiership debut, was hit for hands in the ruck.

Warriors had to play out the end of the first-half with 14 men after Lutui was sin-binned for taking his man out in the air at a line-out.

Rasmussen put in power-packed drives in midfield and Drahm and Pat Sanderson showed good hands to set up Garvey.

This spell of Warriors' pressure led to Irish losing their numerical advantage with a minute left in the half as Armitage was sent to the bin for taking out Garvey with a trip after the Warriors wing had chipped the ball down the line.

From the resulting penalty, Drahm split the posts from the touchline to reduce the arrears to four points at the interval. Warriors began the second-half strongly with Will Bowley, a late call-up to the team after All Black lock Greg Rawlinson failed an 11th-hour fitness test on his injured ankle, claiming line-out ball on the home side's throw.

Rawlinson's fellow Kiwi Tuitupou showed glimpses of what he was brought to the club to do with several powerful breaks in midfield.

The Pocket Rocket' then went one better, running an excellent line to gather Drahm's pass at pace and slice through the Exiles' rear-guard to score a fine try. Drahm added the extras to give Worcester a 13-10 lead.

Warriors didn't lead for too long though as the visitors were penalised for hands in the ruck and Armitage managed to see far enough through the fog to complete his kick and level the scores at 13-13.

Armitage sent a booming kick downfield, searching for the corner, but the ball rolled into the in-goal area and Gear, who had a relatively quiet game, was able to touch it down and allow Drahm to clear the danger with a 22 drop-out.

The hosts threatened again on the hour mark, but a big Tuitupou tackle forced a knock-on and Warriors were safe.

However, the Exiles turned their pressure into points shortly afterwards when Armitage landed a penalty to put his side back in front. A minute later, Drahm had the chance to level once more but the fly-half's effort drifted narrowly wide.

From a Warriors' scrum on the home side's 22', Sanderson broke with the ball but, as the ruck formed, Irish went off-side and Drahm had an immediate chance to atone for his earlier miss and he made no mistake.

Full-back Armitage looked to sneak his side ahead with an ambitious drop-goal attempt from out wide but his effort was off target.

With eight minutes remaining Thinus Delport, on as a replacement for Pennell, fielded a high kick well but was turned over in contact and the ball was worked out to speedster Topsy Ojo.

The winger chipped ahead and tried to out-strip Garvey, but the Warriors man just managed to get back and save a try.

Having spent the last quarter of the match on the back foot, Worcester suffered an agonising blow with less than three minutes remaining as Tagicakibau easily evaded two weak Warriors tackles to storm over in the corner. Armitage completed the conversion to put Irish a converted try ahead.

Soon after, the final whistle went and it was heart-break for Worcester, who remain bottom of the table without a win from eight attempts.

However, Ruddock can take heart from an improved performance from his players.