Warriors beat 11-man Bath
MATCH REPORT: Bryce Heem crossed for a dramatic double after 18 minutes of added in time in one of the most sensational games in the history of Premiership Rugby
The winger’s second try with Worcester Warriors playing with 15 men against 11 for Bath Rugby, and Duncan Weir’s nerveless conversion, gave the Warriors a remarkable 21-19 victory.
Bath had looked certain to take the spoils when they led 19-3 at the break, but they failed to score a point in the second half, losing Ross Batty to a red card before yellows for Max Lahiff, Lucas Noguera and Aled Brew once the 80 minutes were up.
With the four-man advantage, a try seemed inevitable and the ball was spread to Heem to cross, with Weir making no mistake with the conversion.
Bath had made the better start with three penalties from Freddie Burns, while Worcester lost lock Michael Fatialofa to the sin-bin for a dangerous charge in a ruck.
Weir pulled back three points with a penalty but Bath then had the best chance of the game to date when James Wilson looked set to slide over only for Perry Humphreys to get a hand under the ball and Ted Hill to come into stop the full-back from getting it down.
Burns added a fourth penalty of the half to make it 19-3 with Bath seemingly in complete control.
However Worcester started the second half with a penalty from Weir to cut the deficit before a fine try from Heem. Francois Venter had already made one clean break in the move, and after popping up on the shoulder of Chris Pennell, he streaked through and then fed Heem for the simple finish.
Weir missed the conversion, leaving Worcester trailing 19-11, and their task got easier when Batty was red-carded with 15 minutes to go for a dangerous neck roll on Sam Lewis.
Worcester took advantage of the extra man to slot three points through Weir, making it a one-score game and from there, the Warriors kept going until they finally found a way through.
The scorers:
For Worcester Warriors:
Tries: Heem 2
Con: Weir
Pens: Weir 3
For Bath
Try: Mercer
Con: Burns
Pens: Burns 4
Yellow cards: Michael Fatialofa (Worcester Warriors, 19), Max Lahiff (Bath, 83), Lucas Noguera (Bath, 87), Aled Brew (Bath 94)
Red Card: Ross Batty (Bath, 63)
Teams:
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 Perry Humphreys, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 GJ van Velze (captain), 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Michael Fatialofa, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Callum Black.
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Pierce Phillips, 20 Darren Barry, 21 Marco Mama, 22 Jonny Arr, 23 Ryan Mills.
Bath: 15 James Wilson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Max Wright, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Tom Ellis, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Jacques van Rooyen.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Josh Bayliss, 2 Max Green, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Aled Brew.
Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant Referees: JP Doyle & Simon Harding.
TMO: Stuart Terheege.
@premrugby
