RFU Championship
Worcester make it three from three
ESPNscrum
September 13, 2010
Bristol coach Richard Hill, Saracens v Bristol, Guinness Premiership, Vicarage Road, Watford, January 11, 2009
Richard Hill has some harsh words for his Worcester side © Getty Images
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Players/Officials: Edd Shervington

Worcester Warriors continue to set the pace after round three of the RFU Championship, having pulled out a 32-25 victory over Rotherham at Sixways on Saturday.

The home side were indebted to a late try from former Ospreys hooker Ed Shervington against a gritty and determined Rotherham outfit, whose policy of denying the Warriors any clean ball proved mightily effective.

Head coach Richard Hill had some harsh words for his players after the victory, admitting that their frustration had got the better of them as Rotherham effectively forced Worcester out of their comfort zone with a forward-dominated game-plan.

"It is an effective tactic to win games with the new laws because it is hard to get hold of the ball," he said. "It's not attractive to watch and you sit on the touch line just watching their pick and go, it will send you to sleep. But we got frustrated and did not do what we should have done - we conceded penalties and field position and we have got to learn."

Hill's former club Bristol are still looking for their first win of the season after losing out to Doncaster 26-12 at the Memorial Stadium on Sunday. The Knights did their work in the first-half, with tries from Andrew Boyde and Chris Hallam complemented by an accomplished kicking display from fly-half Tristan Roberts. Bristol showed added grit to pinch the second-half spoils 7-0 thanks to Ollie Hayes' try, but had far too much to do.

Cornish Pirates missed out on an opportunity to keep the pressure on Worcester as they were held to a 26-26 draw by Moseley at Billesley Common. The Pirates had been on course to notch their third win of the season but saw the result snatched away at the death as Moseley wing Jack Pons pounced for a try, with fly-half Brad Davies slotting the extras.

Joining the Pirates on 11 points are Bedford and Nottingham, who both recorded comfortable victories. The Blues cruised to a 31-9 win over Esher a week after the newly-promoted side had shocked Bristol. Canadian fullback James Pritchard bagged a try as well as having a successful afternoon with the boot, while Sean Tomes secured the bonus-point try.

Nottingham cruised past Plymouth 37-16 at Meadow Lane with Japanese international fly-half James Arlidge securing the Man of the Match honour after kicking three penalties as well as conversions to tries by Tom Armes, David Jackson, Cameron Mitchell and Ben Johnston.

London Welsh also threw their hat into the ring with a resounding 33-9 bonus-point win over bottom-placed Birmingham and Solihull at Old Deer Park. Liam Gibson, Marc Breeze, Josh Drauniniu and Aled Thomas scored tries for Phil Greening's side, with Tongan international Epi Taione making his debut as a second-half replacement.

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