Worcester lock Craig Gillies faces disciplinary action from his club following his dismissal in the 22-17 defeat at Bristol yesterday.

Gillies appeared to stamp on Joe El Abd and could miss the rest of the season for the offence but will also face the possibility of internal action from Worcester.

``The disciplinary procedure will take its course and we obviously have the wherewithal to invoke our own disciplinary process,'' said Worcester director of rugby John Brain.

Defeat came courtesy of two David Lemi tries and another effort by Sam Cox, while Mark Tucker and Thinus Delport replied for Worcester.

It meant Worcester failed to ease their relegation worries and they were still only two points in front of Northampton ahead of the Easter Sunday games.

Whichever team beats the drop will face Leeds next season after they clinched National Division One with their win over Otley.

Elsewhere in the Guinness Premiership, Olly Barkley's seven penalties earned a 21-21 draw for Bath at home to Gloucester.

Will James and James Bailey scored tried for the visitors but Barkley's accuracy denied them a chance of going top of the table.

``Olly has got a lot to play for, a lot to prove. He needs to play like that every week,'' said Bath head coach Steve Meehan.

Gloucester director of rugby Dean Ryan felt victory was there for the taking, adding: ``We have got to use it as a stepping stone and we have got to learn to take risks.''

Harlequins director of rugby Dean Richards felt his side's first season back in the top flight reached a new high with Saturday's 34-17 win over London Irish.

Andrew Mehrtens was the star of the show, kicking two penalties and converting tries from Paul Volley, Mike Brown, David Strettle and Stuart Abbott. Rikki Flutey and Kieran Roche replied for the visitors.

``That's the best we have played all season,'' said Richards.

``Our execution was absolutely outstanding and defensively we were very strong. We've been working on our defence and it really showed.

Exiles' director of rugby Brian Smith was left to reflect on a missed opportunity.

``We're all scratching our heads to see where it went wrong,'' he said.

``We've now got two games left and we have to pick ourselves up and bounce back and quick.''