Moseley 10 Worcester Warriors 50

WORCESTER Warriors’ clinical first-half display killed off this Midlands derby before the interval and, temporarily, lifted Dean Ryan’s men to the top of the table.

Chris Pennell’s second-minute try set the tone for the remainder of the opening half and made sure there was no repeat of Warriors’ horror start at Yorkshire Carnegie last month.

Flanker Sam Betty completed a first-half hat-trick for Warriors who, on this evidence, are starting to build momentum and have fresh options at fly-half and in the kicking duties.

Ryan Mills looked at home in his first start in the number 10 jersey and his calm, controlled passing and good vision allowed Warriors’ backline to see plenty of the ball.

Centre Andy Symons is growing in confidence with his place kicking and, as well as scoring a try, converted five of Warriors’ eight touchdowns.

The withdrawal at half-time of winger Sam Smith, who appeared to pick up an injury, and Jonathan Thomas’ second-half yellow card were two disappointments for Warriors.

The assured 40-minute performance from Smith’s replacement Ben Howard was good to see, particularly, after his poor display against Saracens Storm in the Aviva A-League final.

It is now 17 successive victories at first-team level for Ryan’s squad, who had Saturday’s result in the bag after opening up an unassailable 40-5 advantage at the interval.

Moseley are punching above their weight in the Greene King IPA Championship and have far fewer resources than Worcester.

But Moseley always play with plenty of heart and commitment and showed their tenacity in the first league meeting between the sides when Warriors struggled to a 23-7 win at Sixways in September.

It is no mean feat scoring 50 points at Billesley Common and, in fact, Bristol are the only other club this term to register a half-century tally at Moseley.

Pennell put Warriors on the road to victory with their first try after Symons cut through a gap in the Moseley defence before setting up the supporting full-back.

Betty finished off a driving line-out soon afterwards and Symons converted to give Warriors a 12-0 lead after only eight minutes.

Moseley replied with Sam Brown burrowing over after sustained forward pressure from the hosts but the setback fired Warriors to life.

Pennell was halted just short of the Moseley line and popped up the ball for Symons to stretch over the line. Symons added the conversion.

Warriors found their rhythm after a period punctuated with the referee’s whistle to score three tries, converted by Symons, in a five-minute spell before the interval.

Betty grabbed his second try from another driving maul before Moseley’s Mike Powell was shown a yellow card for bringing down a maul.

Betty completed a first-half hat-trick from a driving line-out move and, just before the half-time whistle, Max Stelling finished off a stunning break from Smith.

Stelling increased Warriors’ lead with his second try after using his strength to brush off a couple of tacklers and charging to the line.

Thomas was yellow-carded for Warriors and replacement Jack Lea was driven over for Moseley’s second try after strong work from the forwards. Warriors had the final word when Richard de Carpentier crashed over.