Warriors AASE side Worcester Sixth Form College fell to their first defeat of the season in the AASE League play-offs as Saracens’ Oaklands College won 19-7 at Nunnery Wood Sports Complex on Wednesday.
In a hard-fought contest between two incredibly physical teams, a red card heavily influenced the outcome of the match.
A tense opening ten minutes saw both teams throw everything at each other before what was deemed a dangerous late tackle from Lamaar Lawrence and the youngster was shown a red card.
This meant that Worcester Sixth Form battled bravely, defending their line for the rest of the first-half to leave the score at 0-0.
During that period Worcester still made inroads into the Oaklands defence with big carries from George Parker and Morgan Monks which deserved more.
The second-half started with Oaklands flying out the blocks and making use of the space out wide to score a converted try. This was the first of a quick succession of three tries, all scored in similar fashion that took the score to 19-0.
However, the Worcester side showed their spirit yet again and the remaining 15 minutes of the game was all attack, leading to Rob Lester crashing through the defence to score and Jake Leonard converted.
With the minutes on the clock ticking down the Worcester side threw everything at Oaklands, but fell short on numerous occasions.
Warriors AASE Manager Ryan Watkins said: “These boys will just never give in and they can be proud of the character and resolve they showed as a team to battle through.
“Even when down to 14 men I thought we could have won the game. We just need to sharpen up and do everything we can to amend the result next week.’’
This doesn’t mean the journey is over as Worcester can still qualify for the main AASE Final, but it is now dependent on other results.
The Worcester AASE side take on Brooksby Melton College (Leicester Tigers AASE) next week at Nunnery Wood Sports Complex on Wednesday 15 November (kick-off 2pm).