Worcester Warriors tackle Bath Rugby in the Guinness Premiership at Sixways Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) – and we have all the stats for the big game!
Warriors have teamed up with www.statbunker.com to give you all the facts you need for the big day!
Current Form:
Worcester went down at London Wasps last Saturday 49-12, their heaviest defeat of the season. They stay 11th in the Premiership but still have a reasonable chance of moving above Newcastle into 10th position.
Worcester have played 9 matches at home this season, winning 3, drawing 2 and losing 4.
Bath looked like coming away with a try bonus point victory at half-time against Leicester on Tuesday. However, they failed to add to their 3 first-half tries and had to settle for a 26-12 win and only 4 points. They are now back up to second in the Premiership, 2 points behind leaders Gloucester.
Bath have played 9 matches away from home this season, winning 4 and losing 5.
History:
Worcester and Bath have met 7 times in Premiership rugby since 2004.
Bath have won 6 and Worcester 1.
Worcester’s only win came the last time they met at Sixways in March 2007.
Although Bath have dominated the fixture, in 5 of the 7 matches the scores have been separated by single figures.
Bath beat Worcester 29-15 at the Recreation Ground on the opening day of the season.
Trends and Trivia:
After the Bath game on Saturday, Worcester’s last two Premiership fixtures see them travel to Bristol, before entertaining Newcastle on the last day of the season.
The last match could actually be a play-off for 10th place in the league.
Before that of course is the more important meeting against the same opponents when both Worcester and Newcastle will be attempting to reach the Final of the European Challenge Cup for the first time.
Worcester have won 4 matches and drawn 2 from their 19 games this season. In their 3 previous seasons in the Premiership their lowest return was 6 wins and a draw, last season.
The most tries Worcester have scored at home in a Premiership season is 22 in both 2005 and 2006. With two home games left they have scored 19 tries at home this season.
Worcester have only converted 26 penalties this season, the fewest in the Premiership. In their 3 previous Premiership seasons they scored 39, 61 and 43 penalties in their 22 matches.
Sixways has not seen as many Premiership points this season as in previous seasons. To date, 297 points have been scored in the 9 games against 427 in 2005, 471 in 2006 and 399 last season. Still two matches to go though.
Craig Gillies and Tevita Taumoepeau are the only two Worcester players to have played in all 19 Worcester Premiership matches this season.
Shane Drahm has scored 94 points for Worcester this season and Miles Benjamin has crossed for 4 tries.
Bath have now won 13 Premiership matches this season, the most by any team in the league.
After travelling to Worcester, Bath finish off their fixture list with a home game against Saracens before travelling to Gloucester on the final day of the season.
This Saturday’s match could actually be a rehearsal for this season’s European Challenge Cup Final as Bath host Sale in the semi-final next week.
Bath are having their best season in the Premiership since 2003/2004 when they finished top of the table with 18 wins from 22 matches. They then lost 10-6 to London Wasps at Twickenham in the Premiership Final.
Bath have scored 47 tries in the Premiership this season, the most they have scored since 2001 when they crossed for 72 tries.
Bath have won all 7 matches they have played this season against teams in the bottom 4 positions in the league.
No Bath player has appeared in all their 19 Premiership matches this season but Michael Claassens, Peter Short and Shaun Berne have all played in 18.
Olly Barkley has scored 128 points for Bath this season and Matt Banahan has now scored 9 tries.