Worcester Warriors hold off Bristol Bears to earn first win under Steve Diamond

Worcester Warriors held off Pat Lam’s Bristol Bears to earn their first win under new coach Steve Diamond, winning 19-14 at Sixways Stadium.

With Storm Eunice delaying proceedings by 15 minutes, it appeared not many braved the trip to the match, with either the adverse weather conditions or Worcester’s poor form this season being the deciding factor to that matter.

However, it was the home side who came out swinging with a 14-phase attack with great ball retention. Jamie Shillcock poked a grubber through for Duhan van der Merwe to gather and score within the first five minutes.

Another try came for the Warriors with Sione Vailanu wrapping around from the back of a lineout to charge into the 22. Several quick ball rucks saw them pounding the goal line as quick thinking from Gareth Simpson saw him play a wide pass to captain Ashley Beck to cross over to give his side a two-score lead before the 20-minute mark.

The second 20 minutes of the first half saw relentless Bristol Bears pressure with Worcester’s penalty count hitting double digits.

Captain Steven Luatua drove his way over for the visitors’ first try after a Bristol maul crabbed towards the posts, with a clever pick up from the base of the ruck by the former All Black tidying up and dotting down.

Their second came from a maul being illegally stopped five metres out with Max Lahiff taking the pick and go to regain momentum as he drove himself to the line with an immense show of strength and determination.

Just like the first half, it was the home side who got the better start in the second half, with Simpson and Perry Humphreys combining nicely down the right-hand touchline.

The Bears looked to have successfully counter rucked but left the ball behind for Vailanu to pick up and streak down the touchline to score in the corner.

The first conversion of the match was missed by Finn Smith and he would have blamed storm Eunice but the weather had no effect on the way the game was played, with plenty of balls in hand and little to no tactical kicking.

The poor Worcester discipline continued but it was Bears winger Jack Bates who was shown the only yellow card of the match for a deliberate knock-on.

The Warriors’ forward pack stood up when it came to the scrum and they dominated that part of the game during the second half.

However, the main talking point from the last 20 minutes was the clash of the heavyweights when van der Merwe shrugged off Semi Radradra but the move came to nothing, with Worcester being toothless in attack the main theme of the second half.

With the home side turning down a chance to kick for three points, Bristol looked to make them pay with Lloyd dictating the pace from scrum-half as replacement nine Toby Venner hobbled off injured.

The home side held on to earn their first win in the Steve Diamond era, moving up above Newcastle Falcons into 11th, one place behind Bristol in 10th.

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