Worcester fall to 24-19 loss against Gloucester in Premiership
Last Updated: 22/09/17 11:44pm
Worcester fell to a fourth successive Aviva Premiership defeat of the season as Gloucester claimed a hard-fought victory at Kingsholm.
Gloucester edged out the Warriors 24-19 through two Ollie Thorley tries, a superb Billy Twelvetrees touchdown and nine points from the boot of fly-half Billy Burns.
Worcester have conceded 124 points this term, but they displayed admirable resolve to post two Perry Humphreys tries during the final 20 minutes, while fly-half Ryan Mills kicked three penalties to secure a losing bonus point.
And although life is not about to get any easier for the Warriors, with reigning European champions Saracens arriving at Sixways next Friday before Worcester visit Bath eight days later, they posed Gloucester plenty of second-half problems.
Worcester lost last season's corresponding fixture 55-19, conceding seven tries, and they found themselves under sustained early pressure either side of their captain Donncha O'Callaghan being sin-binned by referee Wayne Barnes for not retreating 10 metres after Gloucester ran a close-range penalty.
While O'Callaghan was off Gloucester duly punished the Warriors with Burns kicking a penalty before his long pass found full-back Jason Woodward, whose one-handed off-load freed Thorley for a try that Burns converted.
Worcester were at sixes and sevens, and Thorley went close to adding a second try just three minutes later when Warriors wing Bryce Heem narrowly beat him to the touchdown.
Gloucester then struck again when Twelvetrees attacked from deep, flanker Freddie Clarke took on the move and Thorley finished in style.
Burns added the conversion, and O'Callaghan rejoined the action with his side 17-0 behind and facing a huge battle to put themselves back in the contest.
Worcester briefly stirred through a couple of powerful Ben Te'o charges, and former Gloucester player Mills opened their account through a short-range penalty, yet the Warriors will feel it should have been more after stretching Gloucester inside their 22.
The visitors continued to dominate territory as half-time approached, prospering from Stringer's rapid service and direct running by Te'o, while Scotland international back-row forward David Denton also made an impact after replacing Sam Lewis.
Mills kicked a second penalty three minutes before the break, and Gloucester trooped off with an 11-point advantage despite a misfiring lineout and fewer scoring opportunities than they would have liked.
The home side, though, were sparked into life within a minute of the restart as substitute centre Henry Trinder sparked a purposeful attack, then featured again 50 metres up-field following good work by Willi Heinz, flicking a scoring pass to Twelvetrees, and Burns converted.
It left Gloucester needing one more try for a bonus point, but Worcester struck next, claiming just a fourth Premiership try of the season when Humphreys expertly gathered Mills' kick to the corner and shrugged off Charlie Sharples to score.
And Humphreys was on hand again nine minutes from time, finishing off a slick move that had Te'o at its heart, and although Mills sent the touchline conversion attempt well wide, he then completed his penalty hat-trick and broke Warriors' Premiership points duck this term.
