Head Coach Richard Hill praised the massive effort put in by his Warriors in the narrow 15-12 defeat at Sale Sharks – and admitted he felt his team deserved a share of the spoils.
A penalty from Nick Macleod in the final five minutes – plus an injury time drop goal by Danny Gray being charged down – ensured Worcester had to settle for a losing bonus in the Aviva Premiership clash at Edgeley Park.
“I think we deserved another point for the effort we put in – every person put a massive physical contribution in,” said Hill. “A draw would have been fair on us for all the efforts we put in.
“It all comes down to referee’s decisions and slightly miss hit penalty that falls under the bar from Danny Gray which is a shame.
“Often in a tight game like that it comes down to the way the referee decides to point his arm. That was all it was really.
“You are always unhappy when you concede penalties, I was particularly early on with a couple of scrum decisions that I didn’t agree with.
“The first two scrum penalties I was very disappointed with. After that the referee realised we were on top and gave us the advantage.
“We were trying to persuade him to give us a penalty in the final few seconds, it would have been nice but referees are reluctant to give that unless it is a stonewall penalty in the final play.”
Hill was pleased with the game plan his team used in the opening 40 minutes to claim a half-time lead before the Sharks fought back.
“The first 40 minutes was near perfect because we strangled Sale and they couldn’t get any momentum going,” said Hill.
“Our kicking was good, our chasing was good and our defensive tackling was very good. We controlled the game.
“We aimed to keep that going in the second half and knew that Sale would come out with more tempo and, to be fair, we kept our defence tight.
“They pulled the pass back deeper to get around the outside of us and had some success, they stretched us and credit to our defence for holding out. They pulled us from side to side and we hung in there.
“We were edging to try and win by the three points so kept it tight and attacked the advantage line. They played with a bit more ambition to try and get around the outside of us and made us work hard, but they didn’t score a try which is pleasing.”
“Often in a tight game like that it comes down to the way the referee decides to point his arm. That was all it was really…"