Peter Hewat kicked all 12 points for London Irish

Worcester (5) 11
Try: Gear
Pens: Crichton, Drahm

London Irish (9) 12
Pens: Hewat 3
Drop-goal: Hewat

Peter Hewat kicked 12 points as London Irish survived a second-half fightback from Worcester to edge to victory.

The 28-year-old full-back kicked three first-half penalties and then added a drop-goal just after the break.

But after crossing in the first half through New Zealand wing Rico Gear, Worcester hit back in the second.

Penalties from Loki Crichton and replacement Shane Drahm brought Worcester to within one point but despite late pressure Irish held on.

Interview: London Irish coaches Toby Booth and Brian Smith

• Worcester director of rugby Mike Ruddock:

"We're not really happy with just a losing bonus point because we thought we deserved to win the game.

"We had four or five good chances - one or two of them we dropped, but a couple which could have gone our way on another day.

"We out-scored them one try to nil, but still didn't get the victory, so we are disappointed.

"It was a big improvement on our recent performances but some important decisions didn't go our way."

• London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith:

"We played poorly in the last half an hour. We moved the ball around and tested Worcester's defence for the first 10 minutes of the half, but all we came away with was a drop-goal.

"Then the momentum turned and we struggled to get back on top of it. To be fair to Worcester, they got their tails up and we made some errors and lost our way a little bit.

"I don't think we deserved to lose the game. If you look at the first half, we came here to play rugby.

"We are certainly a lot better team than the second-half performance showed."

Worcester: Delport, Gear, Rasmussen, Tuitupou, Benjamin, Crichton, M. Powell, Windo, Lutui, Tuamoepeau, Rawlinson, Gillies, Hickey, Sanderson, Horstmann.
Replacements: Drahm for Crichton (59), R. Powell for M. Powell (64), Mullan for Windo (61).

Not Used: Ruwers, Bowley, Wood, Garvey.

London Irish: Hewat, Ojo, D. Armitage, Mordt, Tagicakibau, Catt, Fury, Lea'aetoa, Coetzee, Rautembach, Hudson, Casey, Roche, S. Armitage, Thorpe.
Replacements: Tiesi for Mordt (34), Skuse for Lea'aetoa (51), Paice for Coetzee (51), Kennedy for Hudson (51).

Not Used: D. Murphy, Leguizamon, Stevenson.

Att: 10,025

Ref: Rob Debney (Leicestershire).