Worcester Warriors Unstoppable At Kingsholm
Philip Thitchener (South West Regional Director, J.P. Morgan Asset Management) presents the plate to Richard de Carpentier of Worcester Warriors 7s after winning Pool A of the J.P. Morgan Asset Manage
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Worcester Warriors reached the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7s Series for the first time after Richard de Carpentier’s men steamrolled all before them at Kingsholm on Thursday night.
Heading to Gloucester the Warriors had only won one J.P. Morgan Premiership Rugby 7s game but they were unstoppable at Kingsholm as they secured a maximum 15 points with victories over the hosts, Bath Rugby and Exeter Chiefs.
And joining Worcester at the Rec on Friday August 9 will be Gloucester Rugby, the hosts giving their fans plenty to shout about as they squeezed in after winning the final match of the night 28-19 against Exeter Chiefs.
A thrilling West Country derby kicked off the Aviva Premiership season and Gloucester gave the Kingsholm faithful plenty to shout about as they overcame Bath 29-19.
Captain Chris Cook led by example for Bath as the scrum-half went over for the first try, but that was cancelled out by Gareth Evans shortly afterwards.
New Bath boy Anthony Watson then went over only for the Cherry & Whites to reply again through Steph Reynolds as Bath led 12-10 at half-time.
Rhodri McAtee then gave the hosts the lead after the break and Gloucester didn’t look back, adding further tries through Billy Burns and another for Reynolds with Bath only able to conjure up a Tuvita Tamatawale score in reply.
Exeter Chiefs then faced back-to-back games and got off to the worst possible start as they lost 26-17 to Worcester Warriors.
Worcester raced into a 26-0 lead thanks to tries from Rhys Owen, Paul Hodgson, Max Stelling and Richard de Carpentier.
And although Exeter fought back with scores from Tom Dowding, Jack Arnott and Ollie Claxton they left themselves with too much to do.
And things only narrowly improved for the Chiefs in their next match as they could only grab a losing bonus point against Bath as they went down 20-17.
Bath raced into a 10-0 lead courtesy of tries from Raymond Bishop and Tamatawale before Dowding went over for Exeter to see the Chiefs trailing 10-5 at the interval.
Anthony Watson then went over for Bath before a quick-fire Stuart Townsend double had the Chiefs leading 17-15.
But they couldn’t hold on as Max Clark scored right at the death for Bath’s first win of the night.
After Gloucester’s first game the Kingsholm crowd had enjoyed what they had seen but Worcester then spoiled the party as they downed the Cherry & Whites 31-19 in the next clash.
Worcester again raced out of the blocks and into a 24-0 lead thanks to try-doubles for Stelling and James Stephenson.
Burns, the brother of England’s Freddie, and Martyn Thomas got Gloucester back into the game but Tom Chapman added to Worcester’s total before the hosts rounded off the scoring with a Drew Cheshire effort.
The Warriors were next upon the Kingsholm turf and didn’t waste any time again as Hodgson got them off to the perfect start with an early try as they won their third straight 27-14 against Bath.
Bath scored tries themselves through Watson and Bishop but Carpentier, Chapman and Eden – the latter also adding a penalty – gave them the victory.
And in the final game of the evening both Exeter and Gloucester had a chance of booking themselves a spot at the Rec but it was the hosts who went through thanks to Reynolds and Evans’ doubles, despite Sam Blanchet, Townsend and Ben Vellacott scoring for Exeter.
For tickets to the J.P. Morgan Premiership Rugby Series Final at 7pm on Friday, 9 August at The Rec, Bath visit: bathrugby.com/tickets
