Head Coach Richard Hill conceded his players had been left ‘furious’ and could not hide his own disappointment at the late award of a penalty try as Warriors were edged out 29-23 by Gloucester in a dramatic Aviva Premiership derby at Kingsholm.
Warriors looked on course to record a first league away win of the season as tries from centre duo Josh Matavesi and Alex Grove gave them a 23-22 lead with time almost up.
One last attack from Gloucester from wing Jonny May in the final seconds sparked late hope for the hosts, but after play was worked infield a knock on seemed to have handed Worcester the win and celebrations started from visiting fans.
But in one last controversial twist referee David Rose consulted with the TMO – after being alerted to an indiscretionby his touch judge – over a trip by Errie Claassens on May and after several minutes of huge tension awarded a penalty try and red carded the full back off to leave Worcester shell-shocked and crushed.
“I will look back at the final moments of the game and I’m not going to say anything at this stage other than I am furious about it and the players are absolutely furious about it,” said Hill.
“They feel it wasn’t a penalty try; I will have a look at it on the video and make my decision a bit later on. But that is a very cruel way to lose a game.
“The Gloucester players, to be fair to them, have been very good about it and they feel a little bit awkward about the way it ended. It is anther cruel blow for us and I have never known a club have so much bad luck.
“I’m not sure whether Errie (Claassens) made contact with him, I will have to look at it, but there was certainly cover coming across,” he added.
“Paul Hodgson was across to make that tackle so it wasn’t certain that a try was going to be scored even if it was a trip.
“Errie is such a nice man and he is absolutely distraught with the red card. He is devastated and I haven’t said anything to him yet, he feels so bad about it.”
“I’m not sure whether Errie (Claassens) made contact with him, I will have to look at it, but there was certainly cover coming across…"