23 - 23HT 15 - 6

Sixways
Att 8,905
Fri 09 Sep 16, 7:45pm

REPORT | Warriors 23-23 Gloucester Rugby

Warriors’ first Aviva Premiership home match of the season ended all square after an enthralling game with neighbours Gloucester Rugby at Sixways.

Carl Hogg’s men put in an epic performance after being reduced to 14 men midway through the second-half to pick up their first points of the season.

The lead switched hands in the first period as Ben Te’o’s effort was sandwiched between two Greig Laidlaw penalties.

Warriors then gained the ascendancy as Cooper Vuna raced down the right to ground before Ryan Lamb added a conversion and penalty.

That gave Warriors a 15-6 lead at the break – but Gloucester came back at the hosts after the interval.

Laidlaw added a penalty and Warriors were dealt a huge blow when Alafoti Faosiliva was sent off.

Warriors, however, stretched their lead further as Perry Humphreys produced a scintillating individual effort to score in the corner.

But Gloucester fought back as Matt Scott found a gap to dive over before Laidlaw added five points from the boot.

Heathcote struck three points before Gloucester stole two points at the end as Laidlaw converted Henry Purdy’s late score.

Warriors Head Coach Hogg made three changes to the side which travelled to Twickenham for last Saturday’s London Double Header.

Faosiliva was handed his first start for the Club, while James Johnston and Donncha O’Callaghan were both recalled to the starting line-up.

Gloucester started well and took the lead in the second minute courtesy of a Laidlaw penalty.

Warriors, in their first match on the Sixways Artificial Grass Pitch, looked to get ball in hand and play an expansive game under the Friday night lights.

The hosts’ backline looked to race forward at every opportunity as Te’o and Jackson Willison made their home debuts.

Warriors survived a scare after 12 minutes as the referee went to the TMO after Charlie Sharples had appeared to ground.

Wynand Olivier had put in a huge tackle to halt the winger in his tracks and the referee deemed Sharples had made a double movement.

The game became an entertaining end-to-end affair as both sides created opportunities to score.

And Warriors went over midway through the first-half as Te’o received the ball ten metres out and smashed his way to the tryline.

The try put Warriors in the ascendancy but Laidlaw added his second penalty of the evening shortly after as he showed his skill from the tee.

The lead continued to change hands and Vuna put the home fans on their feet once again just after the half-hour mark as he raced down the right before diving over the line.

Lamb’s conversion gave Warriors a six-point advantage before the fly-half added his first penalty to give the hosts a 15-6 lead at the interval.

The second-half began is the same fashion as the first as Laidlaw bisected the posts with his third penalty.

Lamb then saw a kick bounce back off the post at Warriors looked to rebuild their lead.

Warriors were very much dominating proceedings in the early stages of the second period but were dealt a huge blow when Faosiliva was sent off after he was adjudged to have caught Mariano Galarza with an elbow as he bundled his way forward.

The players regrouped and were seemingly galvanised by the man disadvantage as they refused to lay Gloucester through the defence.

And Warriors went over for a third try in emphatic fashion as Humphreys showed raw pace to see off an army of Gloucester defenders and dive over in the corner.

Suddenly the momentum was back with Warriors as they continued to asked questions of the visitors.

But Gloucester hit back as Scott found a gap in the home defence and found his way to the tryline.

Laidlaw’s conversion reduced Warriors’ lead to four points at 20-16 as the game became more and more enthralling.

Heathcote struck a penalty before Gloucester raced down the other end and got their third try courtesy of Purdy, who dotted down in the corner.

Laidlaw converted from the byline to level the scores at 23-23 with less than ten minutes remaining.

Both sides pressed for a winner but Warriors eventually settled for the two points as they kicked the ball into touch as the clock ticked past the 80-minute mark.

Timeline:
02m | Laidlaw pen 0-3
22m | Te’o try 5-3
26m | Laidlaw pen 5-6
31m | Vuna try 10-6
32m | Lamb con 12-6
36m | Lamb pen 15-6
42m | Laidlaw pen 15-9
57m | Humphreys try 20-9
62m | Scott try 20-14
63m | Laidlaw con 20-16
68m | Heathcote pen 23-16
70m | Purdy try 23-21
71m | Laidlaw con 23-23

Warriors | 15 Jackson Willison, 14 Dean Hammond, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Ben Te’o (Humphreys 40), 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Ryan Lamb (Heathcote 63), 9 Jonny Arr, 1 Val Rapava Ruskin (Leleimalefaga 63), 2 Niall Annett (Bregvazde 64), 3 James Johnston (Daniels 71), 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 5 Darren Barry (Scotland-Williamson 72), 6 Alafoti Faosiliva, 7 Marco Mama, 8 Phil Dowson (C)

Replacements | 16 Jaba Bregvadze, 17 Na’ama Leleimalefaga, 18 Mike Daniels, 19 Christian Scotland-Williamson, 20 Carl Kirwan, 21 Luke Baldwin, 22 Tom Heathcote, 23 Perry Humphreys


Competition: Aviva Premiership Rugby
Venue: Sixways
Referee: Luke Pearce
Game Type: Home
Fixture Round: 2
Attendance: 8,905
No. Name T C D P
15 Tom Marshall
14 Charlie Sharples
13 Matt Scott 1T
12 Billy Twelvetrees
11 Henry Purdy 1T
10 Billy Burns
9 Greig Laidlaw 2C 3P
1 Yann Thomas
2 Richard Hibbard
3 John Afoa
4 Tom Savage
5 Mariano Galarza
6 Ross Moriarty
7 Matt Kvesic
8 Ben Morgan
Replacements
16 Darren Dawidiuk
17 Cameron Orr
18 Paul Doran Jones
19 Joe Latta
20 Jacob Rowan
21 Willi Heinz
22 James Hook
23 Mark Atkinson

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