Guinness Premiership

Mike Ruddock praised his Worcester side but had some sympathy for troubled Newcastle after Saturday's 51-10 victory at Sixways rounded off both sides' Guinness Premiership seasons.

The Warriors now go to Gloucester in a fortnight to face Bath in the European Challenge Cup final on a high, while it is question time for the Falcons as they lick their wounds after a troubled season.

Worcester director of rugby Ruddock said: "It was great for us because things we talked about at the start of the season came right, but what a tough week for Newcastle after they had to play three games.

"We won the second-half 31-0, which shows they were tired. As much as we won the game and it was great to sign off with a victory, we keep it in perspective and we know it will be tougher in two weeks time against Bath.

"There were times when we put the ball down when we shouldn't and we had a try against us which we are pretty filthy about.

"We've got to temper our thoughts and reflect that Newcastle really did tie up a bit in the second half."

He added: "It is a good confidence booster for the final but, as coaches, you always want more. You tend to think about passes that went down rather than tries that were scored - and there were some great tries today."

In all, Worcester notched up eight touchdowns and could have inflicted the heaviest defeat on Newcastle this season if more than two conversions went over or possible tries - ruled out for forward passes and mistakes - had been scored.

Newcastle's acting director of rugby Steve Bates admitted it had been a tough week for his side, especially after Wednesday's failed bid to beat Wasps.

Bates said: "We had a really difficult week and there were a lot of young lads out there who have not got a lot of experience at this level and haven't played much rugby at this intensity and that showed after half-time.

"That is where our tiredness showed from this week. We have not had any time to prepare. We played Wednesday night, didn't do anything Thursday, travelled yesterday and had a little run around.

"We got here but we are taking on a good Premiership team with half a side ourselves and no preparation. I'm not particularly surprised but I thought, first half particularly, we did not help ourselves with discipline.

"But, at the end, I think it was just the end of a couple of tough months for us."

Worcester scored three tries after half-time through Thinus Delport and Miles Benjamin (two), taking the score from 20-10 to 37-10 and putting them out of sight.

Pat Sanderson, Aleki Lutui and Chris Horsman got touchdowns for the Warriors in the first half against one try from Newcastle's Ollie Phillips.

The seventh and eighth touchdowns, by Rico Gear and Marcel Garvey, were just the icing on the Worcester cake.

Bates added: "We were under a bit of pressure and hadn't done badly to turn around at 20-10 but the three tries after half-time were the turning point."
 
With thanks to www.guinnesspremiership.com