However, that they had the ball to do so demonstrated that the Worcester pack was indeed as strong as its billing, and consequently most of the match was played in Bath territory. Indeed, they well and truly had the measure of the Bath lineout, and Steve Meehan, the Head Coach, was very disappointed with the set-piece. “It didn’t function as well as it could have, nor as it should at this level,” he said afterwards.

But he said that Worcester are playing well at the moment. “I think that the last couple of weeks it has been the best rugby I have seen them play in the last couple of years,” Meehan said. “If there is a positive to come out of it, it is that we withstood a good deal of it and defended quite well.”

Worcester won penalties in the second and seventh minutes that they kicked to touch, the first to within ten metres of the Bath line. But though Craig Gillies tapped it down each time, his colleagues let a Bath man scoop it up on both occasions. However, a third penalty gave them another opportunity to kick the ball into Bath’s 22. This time, Kai Horstmann won the ball, and after the forwards had taken it on, it was swung to the left wing, and Delport dived over to score. Shane Drahm’s touchline conversion gave them a 7-0 lead.

Twenty minutes had passed before Bath were awarded a penalty in Worcester territory. But it was only just over halfway so Chris Malone kicked it to touch. However, Bath lost the lineout and Worcester booted the ball away.

A useful break and chip and chase by Joe Maddock had demonstrated Bath’s attacking potential, but after Drahm had kicked a penalty just short of the posts, Bath suddenly got onto the scoreboard when Malone charged down a kick by the full-back, and having dribbled it over the tryline, flopped onto the ball to score. Olly Barkley levelled the scores with the conversion.

It did not stay that way for long. The stop-start nature of the half meant there were plenty of minutes to play, and when Bath were penalised for failing to roll away in the tackle, Drahm kicked the three points on offer.

In the last minute of injury time, Worcester too fell foul of the referee, for diving over the ball at the ruck, but Barkley’s penalty attempt drifted left of the posts and the Warriors led at half-time.

Six minutes into the second half, a break by David Bory took Bath well into the Warriors’ half, and after a number of phases the hosts were penalised. This time, from in front of the posts, Barkley made no mistake.

Not long after, Drahm recovered the three-point advantage with another penalty, after some neat and creative work by Aisea Havili on the right wing. Only moments later, Worcester proved that rush defence could be as useful a form of attack, as they pressed the backline into holding on, and Drahm again punished the error.

Into the final quarter, Worcester nearly copied Bath in scoring from a charged-down clearance, this time that of Shaun Berne, who had replaced Malone, but the ball just beat Delport in running over the dead-ball line.

Still Bath struggled to get out of their half, and though one Worcester attack was relieved when they were penalised for crossing, Bath’s subsequent lineout throw went astray. And when Matt Stevens was forced to kick the ball into touch five metres from his own line, the Worcester crowd sensed another score. Gillies claimed the lineout and the maul rumbled infield; Powell switched the attack down the blindside, and fed Delport for his second try.

Eighty minutes were up, but Bath worked their way towards Worcester’s line, and won a five-metre scrum. Gareth Delve picked up from No 8, and Berne received the ball, found a hole in the defence, and scored. But Barkley could not convert, Bath remained a score behind, and Worcester made sure they kept the visitors well away from their line for the remaining few minutes of the match.

Scorers:
10: Try Delport, Conversion Drahm, 7-0
38: Try Malone, Con Barkley, 7-7
40+4: Penalty Drahm, 10-7
(Half-time)
47: Pen Barkley, 10-10
52: Pen Drahm, 13-10
55: Pen Drahm, 16-10
76: Try Delport, 21-10
80+1: Try Berne, 21-15

BATH: 15. N Abendanon 14. J Maddock (Walker, 78)13. E Fuimaono-Sapolu 12. O Barkley 11. D Bory 10. C Malone (Berne, 55) 9. N Walshe 1. D Barnes 2. L Mears (Dixon, 72)3. M Stevens 4. S Borthwick (captain; Short, 47) 5. D Grewcock 6. A Beattie (Short, 27-36; Scaysbrook, 69) 7. M Lipman 8. G Delve

Replacements: 16. P Dixon 17. A Jarvis 18. P Short 19. J Scaysbrook 20. C Walker 21. A Williams 22. S Berne

WORCESTER: 15. S Drahm 14. A Havili 13. D Rasmussen 12. G Trueman (Tucker, 53) 11. T Delport 10. J Brown (Best, 41) 9. M Powell 1. D Morris (Windo, 41) 2. C Fortey (Lutui, 62) 3. T Taumoepeau 4. C Gillies (Murphy, 80+6) 5. P Murphy (Collier, 80+2) 6. D Hickey 7. P Sanderson (captain; Harding, 73) 8. K Horstmann

Replacements: 16. T Windo 17. A Lutui 18. T Collier 19. T Harding 20. N Runciman 21. M Tucker 22. L Best

Referee: D Pearson
Attendance: 9,334