Worcester suffer 27-20 blow against Oyonnax

Oyonnax 27-20 Worcester Warriors, Stade Charles Mathon
Scorecard

Worcester Warriors' chances of progressing into the play-offs have taken a major blow following their 27-20 defeat to Oyonnax in the recently concluded European Challenge Cup encounter at Stade Charles Mathon on Friday.

This was also Oyonnax's first win of the season as they continue to languish at the bottom of Pool 5 while Worcester Warriors are at second with 12 points.

Fly-half kicked the proceedings for Worcester with a 16th minute penalty but four minutes later, Oyonnax went on to level the scores with a three pointer from Julien Audy.

A sin-bin to Joe Taufete'e in the 22nd minute dented Worcester's chances as Oyonnax made full use of their numerical advantage with back to back tries from Vincent Lasmarrigues (26') and Audy (31'). Audy kicked his second penalty at the stroke of half time to help the home side take a 20-3 lead.

Sam Olver brought Worcester Warriors back into the game with a penalty in the 44th minute and nine minutes later he contributed with a converted try as well to bring down the gap to seven points.

However, replacement Valentin Ursache restored the 14 point lead of Oyonnax when he crossed over in the 55th minute and Audy improved it with a conversion. As the final 10 minutes kicked-off, Alafoti Faosiliva try followed by a conversion from Olver reduced their trail to seven points but their efforts weren't quite enough to get them past the line.