Warriors fall to defeat in Nottingham

Worcester Warriors fell to a first defeat in five games against Nottingham in tough conditions at Lady Bay.

The hosts went into half-time a point ahead and then kept Warriors scoreless to come away with the victory.

It took six minutes for Nottingham to open the scoring, with winger Luke Rocomoce collecting a chip kicked from Parks over the Warriors defensive line.

The mud bath conditions at Nottingham soon meant the Warriors lilac kit became indistinguishable from Nottingham’s green, a challenge for officials, players, commentators and fans alike.

Worcester grew into the game as the first-half drew on, dominating possession and territory but couldn’t quite come away with the points.

The Warriors try eventually did come with Will Reed and Jake Garside capitalising on a Nottingham error on half-way before hacking the ball up-field and forcing a five metre scrum to Worcester.

From the subsequent scrum the visitors broke down the blindside with Reed finding away over the line before converting his own score.

The Warriors continued to pile on the pressure as the clock ticked towards halfway, but once again the ball did not find its way over the line.

On the stroke of half-time, Nottingham fly-half Gwyn Parks slotted a penalty to give his side the lead at the break.

As the second-half got underway, the conditions didn’t get much better but it was the hosts who managed the game to their success.

Parks missed a chance to extend Nottingham’s lead with a penalty, but with James Tyas in the sin-bin, Nottingham capitalised on the man advantage to cross for their second-try when number eight James Cherry powered over from the back of a five metre scrum.

Both sides introduced fresh legs to introduce a new energy into the game, but Nottingham continued to dominate the games territory

And the hosts win was secured with three minutes to go when winger Harry Graham ran in from distance to score under the posts and ensure Worcester travelled home with no points in the bag.

Nottingham 22

T - Luke Rokomoce 6’, James Cherry 66’, Harry Graham 77’

C - Gwyn Parks 66’, 77’

P - Gwyn Parks 40’

Warriors 7

T - Will Reed 24’

C - Will Reed 24’

YC - James Tyas 58’

Nottingham Team

15 Jack Stanley, 14 Luke Rocomoce, 13 Kegan Christian-Goss (Evan Mitchell 10’), 12 Levi Roper, 11 Harry Graham (Charlie West 79’), 10 Gwyn Parks, 9 Will Yarnell (Josh Goodwin 66’); 1 Aniseko Sio (Oscar Stott 57’), 2 Jack Dickinson (c) (Arthur Allen 66’), 3 Dan Richardson (Diamond Ayiehfor 79’), 4 Osian Thomas, 5 Will Ramply (Iestyn Rees 57’), 6 Jay Ecclesfield, 7 Michael Green (Kody Vereti 71’), 8 James Cherry

Warriors Team

15 Louis Brown (Juan González 70’), 14 Jake Garside, 13 Tom Hendrickson (James Short 63’), 12 Rory Taylor, 11 Will Trewin (Tim Hoyt 74’), 10 Will Reed, 9 Will Lane; 1 Callum Smyth (Ashley Challenger 48’), 2 Austin Wallis (Archie Vanes 48’), 3 Fraser Balmain, 4 Côme Joussain (Hallam Chapman 48’), 5 James Tyas (Lewis Jones 70’), 6 Tim Anstee, 7 Thabo Ndimande (Obinna Nkwocha 48’), 8 Matt Kvesic (c)