Worcester Warriors Development side claimed an impressive 43-20 over Exeter United at Sandy Park on Monday night.
The young Warriors side ran in seven tries with Tom Wood (2), Matt Cox, Nick Runciman, Miles Benjamin, James Collins all crossing plus a late penalty try.
The game was played with uncontested scrums, as requested by Warriors because of disruption with second rowers with Rob Wood and Graham Kitchener both unavailable.
And Academy assistant boss Gary Meechan revealed it had given the young Warriors side the opportunity to play open attacking rugby.
“It was a good opportunity for the players to put themselves forward for selection to Mike Ruddock who traveled down to watch the game,” he said.
“They all showed good skills and most of the tries came from opening running play.
“Every player showed their worth and had good tempo, Tom Wood led by example as skipper and Matt Cox had a good game in what was only his second appearance since a shoulder injury.
“James Collins worked hard and Craig Everett had a very solid game and was unlucky not to score a try. Youngsters like Michael Penn and Tom Wheatcroft also put themselves forward.
“We showed flashes of the team that finished last season, we played well as a unit and hopefully this is a performance we can really build on.”
Exeter kicked off and had an early chance to break the deadlock after two minutes when Warriors were penalised for not rolling away. But the penalty was missed.
Four minutes later the home side did strike when Worcester were hit for hands in the ruck in front of the posts and Adam Staniforth slotted the penalty for a 3-0 lead.
However, on nine minutes the home side were reduced to 14 men when Ian Wilson was yellow carded for a dangerous play after a sliding tackle.
Thirty seconds after the visitors scored the opening try of the game when good phase play saw Wood cross with the conversion missed.
The visitors lost Everett for persistent infringements on 11 minutes and were dealt a further blow when Chris Pennell was taken off injured at the midway point of the first half.
Warriors missed a penalty for not releasing before scoring a second try on 25 minutes when Cox barged over under the posts and Gareth Morgan converted for a 12-3 lead.
Ten minutes before the break the visitors took control when Runciman scored a try from two metres out just to the right of the posts.
Exeter hit back with a try from Gary Kingdom just before the break to cut the lead to 17-10 at the interval.
Warriors lost Cox to the sin bin 13 minutes into the second half and an Ian Wilson home try put United within two minutes of Worcester.
But Andrew Stanley’s men were not to be denied a win and stepped up the pressure to pull clear with Wood grabbing his second of the evening on 56 minutes.
Exeter again struck with Kingdom scoring in the corner before Warriors turned on the style in the last 13 minutes to storm away.
Replacement Tom Wheatcroft made a line break with a chip over the top only to be taken out by Exeter wing Ben Scott. Referee Luke Pearce immediately awarded a penalty try and sent the fourth player that evening to the sin bin. Joe Carlisle added the conversion for a 29-20 lead.
Wing Benjamin scored a stunning try eight minutes from time when Carlisle threw a miss pass to Alex Grove who in turn hit Benjamin with a perfectly timed pass 35 metres out and the speedster roared in under the posts.
A convincing second half display was capped when flanker Collins, who had earlier been off for stitches to an eyebrow injury, scored a converted try just before the final whistle.
Warriors: 01 Callum Black, 02 Ben Gotting, 03 Shaun Ruwers, 04 Craig Everett, 05 Liam Mullan, 06 Matt Cox, 07 James Collins, 08 Tom Wood, 09 Nick Runciman, 10 Gareth Morgan, 11 Uche Odouza, 12 Greg Evans, 13 Alex Grove, 14 Charlie Fellows, 15 Chris Pennell
Replacements: 16 Matt Mullan, 17 Matt Deacon, 18 Jake Abbott, 19 Jonny Arr, 20 Joe Carlisle, 21 Tim Streather, 22 Miles Benjamin, 23 Tom Wheatcroft, 24 Michael Penn