This was the third of 4 league games the wanderers are having to play away in a row as building works carry on at their home ground. Having played two quality teams in Bournville and Newport, the Wanderers were not expecting an easier game traveling to Burton.
Burton showed why they are top of the table, as the qualities they showed on the day were teamwork, pressure, and resilience to bounce back. The wanderers were not outclassed, they exerted long spells of pressure on the home team, but could not contain some superb individual skill of the Burton debutant winger who scored two tries that proved to be the undoing.
The Wanders had a lot of the territory and possession in the first 20 minutes and a penalty count of 10-1 in their favor, but were not able to accumulate points. Worcester also lost the inspirational Tom Dodge to injury early on in the first half, which meant that Head Coach Jon Perks had to make changes early on.
On Burtons first sustained visit into the Wanderers half, Worcester gave away a penalty and saw the offender being yellow carded, and that was enough for the Burton pack to use its muscle against the wanderers 7 to get them on the board for the first try.
The score line changed hands many times in the game and some great performances from Paul Burton, Tom Biggs, Mike Croad and Scott Smith saw the score line increase in the Wanderers favor.
No Wanderer shirked from their role, or let up in effort, but the tenacity of Burton to regain the lead was to much come the final whistle. Worcester secured a scoring bonus point with the last play, but it still leaves them looking at the table from an unusual position. The trip to Stoke next weekend will allow our players to bounce back and show the game management and desire to get us moving up the table.