Wing star Miles Benjamin grabbed his second hat-trick of the season to take his try tally to 17 in 22 games – but admitted just winning on day one of the play-offs was all that mattered to him.
Hot shot Benjamin underlined his reputation as one of the RFU Championship’s most deadly finishers with a clinical brace before the break at the Memorial Stadium before finishing his treble as Worcester ran out comprehensive 44-15 winners.
Benjamin praised the hard work of the Worcester pack for setting up his chances and also the team for keeping cool as the game boiled over in the second half with one red card and four yellow cards in the second half.
“We knew after the result that London Welsh got that we wanted to get a bonus point win and stay on top of our play-off group – to get three tries tops a special day for me,” he said.
“I probably got a little bit carried away with the third with my arm up celebrating before I crossed the line – not really my style so I might have to put that away.
“I love scoring tries but it getting a hat-trick was not top of my agenda today – the win was all that mattered.
“It was nice to start playing some really meaningful games and that showed, we were really up for it and put in a performance we need to produce week in and week out for the next two or three months,” he added.
“The second try was a key one for us just before half-time, to put some breathing space between us and it is good to get a long range one.
“It came from a lot of pressure and the boys had been working hard in midfield to push them back. The forwards got stuck in and a charge down spilled to me. It was made by hard work in defence and Marcel got a similar one last week against Moseley.
“Those chances come about from putting pressure on the opposition and we are working hard on our defensive structure.
“Bristol are a proud rugby club with a lot of history so we knew it was going to be a hard afternoon. We fronted up physically and kept more people on the pitch to take advantage at the end.”