 | MATCH SUMMARY Worcester 15 (9)
Pens: Brown 5 Gloucester 15 (9)
Pens: Mercier 4
Drop: Mercier |
Mike Tindall came through his Gloucester league debut unscathed as the visitors drew with Worcester in a fiercely contested derby at Sixways. Gloucester led 6-0 early on, but needed a huge Ludovic Mercier penalty to draw level at half-time after three James Brown penalties put Worcester ahead.
The kicking duel between the two fly-halves continued as both landed two more penalties in the second half.
Gloucester wasted the best try-scoring chance as Jake Boer missed an overlap.
The visitors were quickly into their stride early on, playing with far more directness than for large parts of last season.
They were rewarded with a drop-goal and penalty from Mercier inside the first 10 minutes, making light of the early departure of captain Adam Balding.
Balding was forced off after taking a blow to his jaw in a blatant shoulder charge from opposite number Drew Hickey, who was fortunate to escape a yellow card.
But after a hesitant start, Worcester's pack gradually started to match the visitors and drew level after 33 minutes. Andy Hazell and Tindall, on his league debut for Gloucester, were penalised for ruck infringements that Brown punished.
The fly-half then nudged the hosts ahead with his third penalty three minutes before half-time.
But Mercier again showed his value by landing a huge 60m effort from inside his own half to regain parity at the interval.
With neither pack giving an inch the second half continued to be dominated by the boot of the two number 10s.
Brown twice nudged Worcester ahead before being replaced by Shane Drahm, and Mercier twice responded to level it at 15-15 with 10 minutes left. The latter penalty was a poor reward from Gloucester's first decent attacks, when Rob Thirlby was held up on the left and then Adam Eustace and Boer butchered an overlap.
There was still time for Drahm to land a long-range penalty just short, while Worcester were relieved to see Mercier's drop-goal attempt drift narrowly wide.
Worcester director of rugby John Brain:
"We probably took 30 minutes to believe that we could actually beat Gloucester. You can't waste half an hour against them. "We gave away too many penalties in the first period and we didn't get going quickly enough.
"We would have liked to win against our local rivals but it's not the worst possible start for us."
Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan:
"There were times in the second half where we were lucky to get out of it. We allowed ourselves to get dragged into what was a pretty poor game. "We didn't play well and were lucky to get away with a draw. We're disappointed we didn't problem solve a bit better.
"But these local derbies, on the opening weekend, put pressure on everyone."
Worcester: Delport; Hylton, Rasmussen, Lombard, Hinshelwood; Brown, Powell; Windo, Van Niekerk, Horsman, Collier, Gillies, Vaili, Sanderson (capt), Hickey.
Replacements: Le Roux for Rasmussen (72), Drahm for Brown (67), C Fortey for van Niekerk (67), Tuamoepeau for Horsman (81), Murphy for Collier (58).
Not Used: Horstmann, Runciman.
Gloucester: Goodridge; Foster, Tindall, Paul, Thirlby; Mercier, Richards; Collazo, Azam, Vickery; Eustace, Brown; Boer, Hazell, Balding (capt).
Replacements: Powell for Collazo (56), Buxton for Boer (3), Cornwell for Balding (5), M. Davies for Cornwell (12).
Not Used: Thomas, McRae, Allen.
Att: 9,726
Referee: Ashley Rowden (RFU)
MMIX
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You can't waste half an hour against Gloucester