Garvey sets up Bourgoin semi

Marcel Garvey's double helped take Worcester past Brive on Saturday and into the European Challenge Cup semi-finals.

Captain Pat Sanderson also scored and, alongside nine points from Matthew Jones and a bizarre try from Alex Grove, the Warriors had a 29-18 victory against the French to keep the season alive.

Despite Ronnie Cooke's two tries for Brive, the in-form Top 14 side went out at the quarter-final stage for the second straight year.

Having already secured their Guinness Premiership survival, the Warriors now head to Bourgoin in the last four, meanwhile, with Heineken Cup qualification now just two wins away.

Control

Matthew Jones got things underway on a sunny day at Sixways Stadium and, after Andy Goode had shanked his drop-goal attempt, Worcester forged their way into a 3-0 lead through Jones' penalty conversion from 37 metres.

Kai Horstmann was injured in the restart and was replaced by Netani Talei, with the Fijian number eight making an immediate impact getting his boot to the ball as it was coming out of the Brive ruck. Garvey picked up the pieces and enjoyed a clear run to the line for the game's first converted try, with Jones kicking the extras.

Goode did get his side on the board with a penalty on the quarter-hour mark, but Brive's winger Alexis Palisson was then sin-binned for an early tackle on Rico Gear with the try-line beckoning. The young Frenchman might have prevented what looked a certain try, but the visitors were made to pay in the aftermath as Jones crashed through Goode's attempted tackle and sent Sanderson over for a second converted try to the Warriors.

England star Goode was not having the best of games and was replaced by Scott Spedding after missing a simple penalty opportunity. The South African fly-half's introduction sparked Brive into life, with Cooke eventually finishing off a free interchanging move between the forwards and the backs that took the French into half-time trailing 17-8.

Extraordinary

Brive came out fired up after the restart and were again rewarded after putting together a succession of gain line breaking phases. Spedding played a crucial role in sending Cooke in for his second try of the match and Palisson converted to reduce the deficit to just two points.

Then came a truly surreal moment as Jones' penalty attempt went wide, but Ben Johnston turned his back as the ball dropped in the in-goal area. Grove followed up, collected and touched down for a curious converted try to give the Warriors a 22-15 lead.

Palisson's penalty reduced the deficit to four with 15 minutes to go, but the response from Worcester was swift and incisive as they worked the ball from right to left and, after Miles Benjamin had been stopped just short of the line, the ball was worked back out to the right flank where Garvey was on hand to notch his second converted try.

That score proved the killer blow to Brive's hopes and so the Warriors progressed and will travel to Bourgoin next with a place in the final at stake.