Warriors slipped to a narrow defeat after an emphatic Northampton Saints turnaround in the final pre-season encounter ahead of the 2015/16 Aviva Premiership season.
Despite Warriors being 15-0 ahead at the break thanks to tries from Sam Lewis and GJ van Velze, Saints stormed back to score 33 second-half points at Franklin’s Gardens.
Ben Nutley pulled a try back before Warriors added scores from Ben Howard and a lung-bursting run from Darren O’Shea – but Ethan Waller, Pat Howard and Alex Mitchell dotted down in the space of ten second-half minutes.
And in the last play of the game, Waller crashed over to complete a stunning comeback from Northampton.
Donncha O’Callaghan was named in the starting line-up for his Warriors debut as Dean Ryan picked a strong side for the warm-up ahead of next Friday’s Aviva Premiership opener.
Warriors had the better of the early stages and were rewarded for kicking to the corner when Lewis was on the end of a driving maul.
Tom Heathcote uncharacteristically missed the posts for the first time this pre-season before Saints looked to bounce back.
Warriors almost crept over the line again but were held up and despite mounting pressure at the scrum, they opted to take a penalty soon after to extend their lead to eight as Heathcote slotted the kick.
And they continued to dominate with Van Velze finishing off a fine passage of play against last season’s Aviva Premiership table-toppers.
Saints were back up and at Warriors immediately and won a penalty but JJ Hanrahan couldn’t convert the three points.
And Ryan’s men almost punished Saints further as they edged towards the tryline with Chris Pennell brought down inches short of the whitewash.
Warriors soon had another opportunity before being held up over the line but it was the hosts who finished the half stronger – despite being 15-0 down.
Ryan brought on eight replacements at the break while Saints remained unchanged and they got themselves back in the game when Nutley supported Ah See Tuala who leapt over Jonny Arr down the left flank.
The flanker collected the pass and waltzed over the tryline to get Saints’ first points of the day with Hanrahan converting.
But Warriors replied and after a good spell, Arr found Ryan Mills who drew in the defence before gifting the ball to replacement Howard to dive over the line. Ryan Lamb converted from wide out.
Saints looked to battle back but O’Shea intercepted on the halfway and somehow found the gas to sprint to the tryline for one that the giant lock will no doubt be telling the grandchildren in years to come.
However, the hosts didn’t roll over and Waller picked a gap to run in unopposed under the posts with Sam Olver converting.
Warriors’ Ben Howard was then sin-binned, allowing Saints a chance to get back in the game and they took it with both hands when Pat Howard finished out wide.
And the hosts capitalised further when replacement Mitchell dotted down and Olver added the extras to put Saints within one point.
Warriors held firm in the final few minutes but then twice lost possession and despite the valiant effort of Ben Howard making a try-saving tackle, Waller was on hand to complete the turnaround as the hosts secured victory in the most dramatic of fashions.
Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell (Howard 40), 14 Perry Humphreys, 13 Wynand Olivier (Stelling 40), 12 Ryan Mills (Grove 62), 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Tom Heathcote (Lamb 40) (Mills 73), 9 Jonny Arr (Mulchrone 56); 1 Val Rapava Ruskin (Leleimalefaga 40), 2 Niall Annett (Sowrey 56), 3 Nick Schonert (Rees 40), 4 Donncha O’Callaghan (O’Shea 40), 5 Darren Barry, 6 Phil Dowson (Mama 40), 7 Sam Lewis (Cox 40), 8 GJ van Velze (C)
Replacements: 16 Ben Sowrey, 17 Na’ama Leleimalefaga, 18 Joe Rees, 19 Darren O’Shea, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Marco Mama, 22 Charlie Mulchrone, 23 Ryan Lamb, 24 Alex Grove, 25 Max Stelling, 26 Ben Howard
Timeline:
5m: Lewis try 0-5
19m: Heathcote pen 0-8
24m: Van Velze try 0-13
25m: Heathcote con 0-15
48m: Nutley try 5-15
49m: Hanrahan con 7-15
53m: B Howard try 7-20
54m: Lamb con 7-22
59m: O’Shea try 7-27
64m: Waller try 12-27
65m: Olver con 14-27
67m: P Howard try 19-27
74m: Mitchell try 24-27
75m: Olver con 26-27
80m: Waller try 31-27
80m: Olver con 33-27