Gloucester kill off Warriors charge

Cherry-and-whites fight back in Kingsholm thriller

Gloucester took the first available place in the European Challenge Cup semi-finals with a magnificent win over Worcester on Saturday, fighting back from 15-23 down with half an hour to go to win 31-23.

Worcester were made to rue their profligacy in a match which they dominated in terms of possession and territory, but could not find the killer instinct to match that of their free-running opponents.

Eighteen minutes into the game, Worcester had enjoyed over 70 per cent of the possession, yet three minutes later they found themselves 15-3 behind.

A combination of indecision and indiscipline had robbed the Warriors of the points their superiority deserved, and their deficit was down to some ruthless efficiency from Gloucester's backs, who ran in two cracking tries.

Worcester's initial domination of the opening five minutes was destroyed by three penalties conceded in quick succession, which allowed Gloucester to clear, then march downfield, then kick an easy three points through Ryan Lamb, who was mightily impressive for all the time he was on the pitch.

Shane Drahm levelled immediately after a chaser was obstructed at the restart, and two minutes later they should have had the lead after a scintillating break from Thomas Lombard. Lombard was caught where he should have passed, and although Worcester got a scrum ten metres out from Gloucester's line, the front row conceded a free kick, and the momentum was lost.

Then Gloucester's backs showed Lombard how it should be done, with Lamb stepping inside superbly before setting Peter Richards on his way. Richards drew his tackler and offloaded to James Simpson-Daniel in textbook fashion, and the England hopeful showed a watching Andy Robinson once again just how much finishing aplomb he could offer Robinson's ailing England team.

Worcester kept up the pressure, and after another break by Lombard the Worcester pack put the squeeze on their opponents at the scrum.

Eventually, with Gloucester on the back foot, Shane Drahm took the ball at pace to cut through the inside gap left by the dog-leg defence to go under the posts for a seven-pointer.

Confidence restored, the Warriors threatened to run riot. Uche Oduoza led one break out from his own 22, but once again, the decision-making of the support – this time Pat Sanderson – let the team down.

Sanderson made amends right on half-time though, after Kai Horstmann had broken through a gaping hole in Gloucester's 9-10-12 channel. Sanderson popped up on Horstmann's shoulder, and dived over for the score. Drahm converted to give Worcester a 17-15 half-time lead.

Drahm extended the visitors' lead immediately after the break to 15-20 with an excellent drop goal from 40m, and then converted a penalty to take the visitors two scores ahead.

But Gloucester had introduced Ludovic Mercier at full-backl to tighten things up, and it began to work. First Mercier dragged Gloucester back to within two points with a penalty from near the halfway line.

Then, in a mirror image of the previous weekend, Gloucester snatched the lead as Lamb boomed a high kick onto the 22 where Tindall and Mercier recovered it from Le Roux.Gloucester won the ruck for Lamb to put a cross kick to the left wing.

Mark Foster caught the ball superbly and dived in at the corner. Lamb's marvellous touchline conversion left Worcester almost down and out.

Another penalty from Lamb put Gloucester two scores in front going into injury time and that was enough for the win and a place against either London Irish or Newcastle who play their semi-final tomorrow.

The scorers:

For Gloucester:
Tries: Simpson-Daniel, Powell, Foster
Cons: Lamb 2
Pens: Lamb 3, Mercier

For Worcester:
Tries: Drahm, Sanderson
Cons: Drahm 2
Pens: Drahm 2
Drop goal: Drahm

Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Mark Foster, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Peter Richards, 8 James Forrester, 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Peter Buxton (c), 5 Alex Brown, 4 Adam Eustace, 3 Gary Powell, 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Patrice Collazo.
Replacements: 16 Rob Elloway, 17 Terry Sigley, 18 Jonathan Pendlebury, 19 Luke Narrway, 20 Haydn Thomas, 21 Ludovic Mercier, 22 James Bailey.

Worcester Warriors: 15 Nicolas Le Roux, 14 Uche Oduoza, 13 Dale Rasmussen, 12 Thomas Lombard, 11 Gary Trueman, 10 Shane Drahm, 9 Matthew Powell, 8 Kai Horstmannn, 7 Thomas Harding, 6 Pat Sanderson (c), 5 Craig Gillies, 4 Phil Murphy, 3 Tievita Taumoepeau, 2 Chris Fortey, 1 Tony Windo.
Replacements: 16 Lee Fortey, 17 Michael Macdonald, 18 Ed O'Donoghue, 19 Saosi Vaili, 20 Andy Gomarsall, 21 James Brown, 22 Thinus Delport.

Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)
Touch judges: Romain Poite (France), A N Other
Match commissioner: Russell Howells (Wales)