Worcester 28 vs Whitchurch 27

GUTTED!

Whitchurch have never won with this referee officiating but, when they were leading by 23 – 14 with less than a minute to go, it looked like they were eventually going to end this statistic. However the referee became heavily involved again. One dubious yellow card for Elliot Horton was followed by two unbelievable cards and Whitchurch were forced to play out what they thought were the dying seconds with twelve men.

The game had started badly for the visitors when a kick ahead bounced awkwardly and allowed the home winger to run through to score under the posts. Less than a minute played and already 7 – nil down, the red men stormed back to dominate proceedings. Poor handling let the home side off but the constant pressure finally paid off in the 26th minute when a catch and drive went over and Danny Nicholas converted from wide out to draw level. On the stroke of half time, a break by the returning Jack Furnival began a move which involved almost every red player and culminated in Cameron Richards touching down. Nicholas missed the conversion for Whitchurch to lead 12 – 7 at half time.

The second half started with Whitchurch still dominating the forward exchanges but slick passing allowed Worcester to come back to score a well worked try which was converted. The visitors came back with a vengeance and scored another try from a catch and drive and this was converted by Nicholas. They went further ahead with a try finished off by James Marvell. A penalty from Skipper Nicholas put them 27 pts to 14 pts ahead and they seemed to be cruising to victory.

The yellow carnage then began. Down to twelve men, Whitchurch fought with everything they had but numerical superiority meant that the Worcester men found overlaps and scored two converted tries, the last one into the 91st minute. The visiting players were gutted and “disgusted”. The home supporters were apologetic.

Next week both first and second team are away at Ludlow.