Diamond blasts 'pathetic, embarrassing' Worcester
SATURDAY WRAP: Worcester's lead rugby consultant Steve Diamond admitted he felt humiliated after seeing his side crushed 45-10 by Newcastle at Sixways.
The Falcons scored six tries, while Brett Connon was 100 percent accurate with the boot as they ended an 11-match winless run in the Premiership to move one place and two points clear of their 12th-placed opponents.
An outbreak of COVID in the Worcester camp had forced the cancellation of the previous week's fixture at Gloucester, but Diamond refused to use that as an excuse for his side's woeful display.
"It was a performance that was totally out of character," he said.
"It was wholly pathetic. Newcastle is a hard-working side and they put us to bed. It was embarrassing and I feel for the Worcester supporter base.
"We were never at the races. We cannot use illness as an excuse because we trained reasonably well over the last few days. There are no excuses. We were completely off centre and did not compete in any area whatsoever.
"We could not hold on to the ball or string two passes together. Our penalty count was probably the lowest of the season because we were never in the action. No one performed well, me included, and I put the onus on myself to get them back up.
"I was going to give them next week off but I might change my mind about that now. It is inexcusable as professionals to perform like that."
It was Newcastle's first victory in the Premiership since they defeated Exeter at the beginning of November and director of rugby Dean Richards said the result had been coming.
Converted tries from George McGuigan, Connon and Adam Radwan put them 21-5 in front at half-time, with a Connon penalty and further scores from Louis Schreuder, Trevor Davison and Jamie Blamire completing the rout.
"I am delighted for the boys because they have played well in recent weeks against some top teams and not had much luck," said Richards.
"We said at half-time that the Worcester players would get a bit of a b*****king and we had to be ready.
"I thought we dealt with the first 10 minutes of the second half really well and we have been threatening to put in a performance like this. It gives us something to build on in the final months of the season."
Richards was particularly impressed with Radwan's try, saying: "It is all about adding strings to his bow.
"There were so many good performances and Josh Basham and Freddie Lockwood in the back row again showed how much they have developed. We will enjoy the trip back."
All the Saturday scores and scorers!
Exeter Chiefs 42-22 Bath
The scorers
For Exeter Chiefs
Tries: Vermeulen, Ewers, Schickerling, Keast, Hogg, Grondona
Cons: Simmonds 4, Hogg 2
For Bath
Tries: Cokanasiga 2, Bayliss
Cons: Bailey 2
Pen: Bailey
The teams:
Exeter: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Tom Hendrickson, 11 Tom O'Flaherty, 10 Joe Simmonds, 9 Sam Maunder, 8 Jacques Vermeulen, 7 Sam Skinner, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Jannes Kirsten, 3 Patrick Schickerling, 2 Jack Yeandle (captain), 1 Alec Hepburn.
Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Billy Keast, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Richard Capstick, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Jack Maunder, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Josh Hodge.
Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Clark, 11 Joe Cokanasiga, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Josh Bayliss, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Will Spencer, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Valeriy Morozov.
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Arthur Cordwell, 18 D'Arcy Rae, 19 Mike Williams, 20 Ewan Richards, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Will Muir.
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Simon Harding, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Tom Foley
Gloucester 21-27 Wasps
Scorers
For Gloucester
Tries: Moyle, Penalty try
Con: Penalty try does not require a conversion
Pens: Hastings 3
For Wasps
Tries: Umaga, Oghre, Atkinson
Cons: Gopperth 3
Pen: Gopperth
DG: Robson
The teams:
Gloucester: 15 Kyle Moyle, 14 Santiago Carreras, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Louis Rees-Zammit, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Ben Meehan, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow (captain), 6 Jordy Reid, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Val Rapava-Ruskin.
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Kirill Gotovtsev, 19 Andrew Davidson, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Tom Seabrook.
Wasps: 15 Jacob Umaga, 14 Paolo Odogwu, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Will Porter, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 7 Jack Willis, 6 Brad Shields, 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Joe Launchbury (captain), 3 Biyi Alo, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Tom West.
Replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Elliot Millar-Mills, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Tom Willis, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Sam Spink, 23 Zach Kibirige.
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Greg Macdonald, John Meredith
TMO: Claire Hodnett
Northampton Saints 39-22 Bristol Bears
The scorers
For Northampton Saints
Tries: Collins 2, Hutchinson, Ludlam, Freeman
Cons: Biggar 4
Pens: Biggar 2
For Bristol Bears
Tries: Radradra, Sheedy, Thomas, Leiua
Con: Sheedy
The teams:
Northampton: 15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tom Collins, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Lewis Ludlam (captain), 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Api Ratuniyarawa, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Sam Matavesi, 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Conor Carey, 19 Alex Moon, 20 Alex Coles, 21 Tom James, 22 Matt Proctor, 23 George Hendy.
Bristol: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Siva Naulago, 13 Semi Radradra, 12 Antoine Frisch, 11 Alapati Leiua, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Fitz Harding, 7 Jake Heenan, 6 Chris Vui, 5 Joe Joyce (captain), 4 Dave Attwood, 3 John Afoa, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Yann Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Jake Kerr, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Jake Armstrong, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Harry Randall, 21 Tiff Eden, 22 Piers O'Conor, 23 Luke Morahan.
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Joe James, Wayne Falla
TMO: David Rose
Worcester Warriors 10-45 Newcastle Falcons
The scorers
For Worcester Warriors
Tries: Humphreys, Hill
For Newcastle Falcons
Tries: McGuigan, Connon, Radwan, Schreuder, Davison, Blamire
Cons: Connon 6
Pen: Connon
The teams:
Worcester Warriors: 15 Noah Heward, 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Oli Morris, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Gareth Simpson, 8 Sione Vailanu, 7 Ted Hill (captain), 6 Kyle Hatherell, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Joe Batley, 3 Christian Judge, 2 Niall Annett, 1 Rory Sutherland.
Replacements: 16 Isaac Miller, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Justin Clegg, 20 Jack Forsythe, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Billy Searle, 23 Perry Humphreys.
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Tom Penny, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 George Wacokecoke, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Freddie Lockwood, 7 Will Welch (captain), 6 Josh Basham, 5 Sean Robinson, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Adam Brocklebank.
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Kyle Cooper, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Rob Farrar, 21 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Ben Stevenson.
Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant referees: Alex Thomas, Jamie Leahy
TMO: Dean Richards
Sources: PA & RugbyPass