There was no doubt from the offset of this game how well-drilled the Worcester pack was in the set piece. They won a great deal of possession for their team in the scrums and line outs all match long. However, the Worcester backs seemed incapable of capitalising on all this hard-earned ball, failing to cross the line once, even when the Lions were down to 14 men.

Early on, a scrum penalty landed Worcester their first points and to settle any match nerves, they opted for the kick - 0-3 to Worcester after 9 minutes. The game then went from end-to-end for the next 26 minutes, with resolute defence from both teams. Just on the 35 minute mark, not for the first time, the Worcester No. 4 came straight off his feet in the ruck, going beyond the ball and taking the Lions defender off his feet - penalty Worcester on the half-way line. Our frustrated Captain, Cass Brookes, asked the Ref what the penalty was for and was immediately marched back '12' metres. The Ref then decided to explain himself to Cass, turning his back to the Worcester kicker, who promptly picked the ball up and moved it another 2 metres whilst the Ref's back was turned. Cass tapped the ball back to where it had been placed by the Ref and was promptly marched back another 10 metres, a total of 24 metres, well inside the Stour 22 and decidedly more kickable. 0-6 to Worcester from a very frustrating and unjustified sequence of events.

For most of the game, the Lions backs showed great promise, working moves that were only thwarted by some good tackling in the final few yards. However, the invention and penetrating runs finally resulted in a well-deserved try for Sam Montieri under the posts on the stroke of half-time. The points were duly converted making the score at the break 7-6 to the Lions.

It took another 15 minutes of the second half for Worcester to be awarded their next points, followed by another well-worked Lions try on 60 minutes by Scott Langdon after several forays into the Worcester 22. 14-9 to the Lions.

The last 20 minutes were the most frustrating for the Lions, who created more chances than the visitors, but were unable to convert them. Three more 'penalties' in this period gifted Worcester 9 more points and a narrow win.

A losing bonus point is all the Lions had to show in a game that they should have won. All credit to the Worcester pack, who were very efficient in the set pieces for the entire game.

The result drops the Lions down to 6th in Midlands 1 West with the trip to Hereford to look forward to this Saturday.