Harlequins survive Warriors second-half resurgence to go third

Harlequins narrowly survived a furious second-half rally from Worcester to clinch a 24-20 victory at a rain-sodden Sixways and move up to third in the Aviva Premiership table.

Worcester dominated possession and territory across the 80 minutes but it was visitors who proved to be the more clinical side with the Warriors wasting a number of golden opportunities and failing to fully capitalise on the sin-binning of both Quins centres Jamie Roberts and George Lowe.

The Warriors' first-half performance was probably their worst of the season and Quins strolled to a seemingly comfortable 24-3 at half-time.

Charlie Walker (two) and Luke Wallace scored the tries for Quins, with Nick Evans converting all three and adding a penalty.

However a furiours Worcester fightback that saw them score 17 unanswered points in the second half ensued with Marco Mama, Phil Dowson and a penalty try chipping away at the deficit although Harlequins would ultimately cling on and escape Sixways with the four points.

Quins made a dream start, taking the lead within three minutes from their first attack of the match. The visitors moved the ball wide from a line-out near the halfway line before Walker and Ross Chisholm exchanged passes to give Walker the opening try, which Evans converted.

Worcester nearly responded immediately, however fly-half Tom Heathcote missed a penalty after David Ward had obstructed Chris Pennell. Heathcoate was to have more luck with his second attempt however and made it 7-3 after Lowe had been penalised and sin-binned for a deliberate offside.

Lowe returned to the action with no damage to the scoreboard and the visitors went further ahead in the 28th minute. They declined a kick at goal in favour of an attacking line-out and were rewarded when Wallace forced his way over for the try, again converted by Evans.

There was controversy two minutes later when Heathcote was pole-axed by a challenge from Quins' giant lock Charlie Matthews. Referee Wayne Barnes sought the advice of his television match official but the challenge was deemed fair despite Heathcote being forced to leave the field, being replaced by Andy Symons.

The situation became even worse for the hosts when Evans fired over a penalty before Worcester had a chance to reduce the arrears. With Heathcote absent, they declined two kickable penalties in favour of line-out drives but a knock-on ruined their chances and they were firmly up against it as they went into the interval 17-3 behind.

Quins looked to have sealed the game within four minutes of the restart when Walker collected a clever chip through from Danny Care for the try, which Evans converted to put the visitors seemingly out of sight.

Yet Worcester rallied in ferocious fashion with Mama crashing over from a driving line-out before Roberts was yellow-carded for failing to roll away at a ruck. Referee Barnes was to award the hosts a penalty try for an infringement at the subsequent scrum which Mills duly converted to bring the deficit to within nine points.

Worcester's second half dominance was rewarded further with 10 minutes to go when Phil Dowson seized on a loose ball to touch down for the Warriors' third try despite Harlequins' Walker seemingly being impeded in the process.

Dowson's try set up a grandstand finish but Roberts' return enabled Quins to stem the tide and just hold on.