Boss Mike Ruddock praised the commitment of his Worcester Warriors as they bravely battled back from an early three try burst from London Wasps to salvage a point at Sixways Stadium.
In-form Wasps roared into a commanding 21-3 in just over 20 minutes in the Guinness Premiership.
But tries from skipper Pat Sanderson and Scottish star Alex Grove – after some sensational handling from Willie Walker – saw Warriors mount a stirring comeback to push Wasps all the way in a dramatic encounter.
“If there was a league table for passion, desire and commitment we would be top of it for the manner in which we came back,” said Ruddock.
“Wasps have got a lot of pace and they are on fire at the moment, it’s a team that that is ripping up a few sides so we knew if we kicked badly they would return those kicks and that is what they did.
“We were 21-3 down and a lot of sides would have dropped heads and not given the commitment we gave. We were fantastic for the rest of the game.
“Before the game we spoke about their danger in counter attacking off turnovers, we have also hit them at the time when pitches are hard and they have torn some outfits to pieces in recent weeks,” he added.
“We missed some kicks to touch, kicked too long and gave them the opportunity to counter and offload. They were superb at it and you have got to give them credit.
“To see us dig in and comeback in the way we did, and dominate the rest of the game, was fantastic from my players so it is hard to be critical of them, except for the second try that we shouldn’t have leaked.
“It came from a scrum that got wheeled slightly, two of our back row came around as Jonny Arr tackled Simpson to try and affect the ruck and Wasps managed to get it away.
“When it was switched back inside the back row, that should have been there, were committed to ruck time and they got through, that was my major disappointment.
“But we battled hard, ran hard and showed commitment. If we do that next week then I am confident we can get the result we want.”
Worcester started an impressive and battling comeback with Sanderson’s power packed try just before the interval.
Soon afterwards an impressive team move that saw Chris Pennell slice through the Wasps defence and offload to Sam Tuitupou with the Pocket Rocket denied as the ball was ripped from his grasp.
And Ruddock admitted a score just before the interval – that would have drawn Warriors back within a point of Wasps – could have been crucial.
He said: “To dig in the way we did was great and we had a chance at the end of the first half when Sammy almost got in.
“The ball was ripped out of this hand and Wasps will be pleased that that happened because if he had scored then I feel we would have gone on to win the game. There were positives from my team but unfortunately it is another loss.
“We scored another after a fantastic effort by Willie Walker, one to charge it down and two to be able to collect a ball behind his back and then find Grovesy inside.
“We are a side that has shown a lot of spirit, a side that has shown commitment and a lot of good rugby at times. There are flat spots in our game, but we showed our fitness is good as we kept battling and coming back.
“We hurt ourselves, all season really, with that ability to let a try in or give away a penalty at crucial times and that has come back to haunt us.”