Bath slay woeful Warriors
By Ben Blackmore
Last Updated: 01/01/70 1:00am
Bath won a low-quality contest 17-11 at the Rec to leave Worcester without a win.
Bath won a low-quality contest 17-11 at the Rec to leave Worcester without a win from their first four Premiership games.
Worcester's lack of creativity behind the scrum will be concerning head coch John Brain and they barely threatened Bath until hooker Aleki Lutui scored a late try to at least earn a bonus point.
Bath's creative insticts flickered only rarely as the two sides contrived to produce a poor spectacle for a crowd of more than 10,000.
Olly Barkley and Shane Drahm exchanged early penalties before Worcester prop Chris Horsman was sin-binned for killing the ball.
Ironically, the incident arose from a rare Worcester attacking move following an run from winger Marcel Garvey, but when it broke down inside the Bath 22, Joe Maddock (pictured) hacked the ball on and collected, forcing Horsman into his professional foul.
It was Horsman's third trip to the sin-bin in successive games and Barkley knocked over the penalty to make it 6-3 to the hosts, before Drahm again levelled just before half-time.
Bath did manage to produce some attacking momentum just after the break and scored their only try on 47 minutes after Nick Abendanon and Michael Stephenson combined to launch an attack from deep inside their own half.
Ryan Davis and Lee Mears linked up well in midfield and when Shaun Berne was halted just short of the line, Nick Walshe burrowed over from close range from the ruck.
With Barkley having been forced off injured, Berne missed the conversion from close to the touchline and was wide with another tricky penalty attempt moments later.
But on 64 minutes the Australian fly-half landed a drop-goal to put Bath 14-6 ahead.
Bath's dominance in the final quarter was reflected by yet another Worcester sin-binning for killing the ball, this time by skipper Pat Sanderson and Byrne's penalty stretched the Bath lead further.
Almost 10 minutes of injury time had been played when Lutui managed to cross for the visitors, earning them a bonus point, but following Harlequins' bonus point against Leicester, they remain rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table.
