THE influence of fly-half Ryan Mills was clearly evident as Worcester Warriors missed his class and creativity in seeing off the bottom club in the Greene King IPA Championship.

On this showing, Argentinian Ignacio Mieres, a late replacement for the injured Mills, will struggle to force his way into the first team reckoning for the play-offs.

Hooker Gus Creevy, who is dynamic in the loose, struggled with his throws into the line-out as Warriors made things difficult for themselves on a warm afternoon at Sixways.

Warriors have chalked up 23 successive wins at first team level and returned to the top of the table but their sloppiness would have worried director of rugby Dean Ryan.

Ryan says he is fast forming the opinion for his squad for the play-offs and there is little doubt scrum-half Charlie Mulchrone and centre Andy Symons are hitting their straps in readiness for the challenge.

Warriors struggled to build momentum until Plymouth were reduced to 14 men following the sin-binning of flanker Sam Simmonds.

In fact, Albion didn’t look out of their depth and took a shock 8-7 lead early in the second-half before Worcester’s class told.

Plymouth defended stoutly and Ben Woods put them in dreamland when he scrambled over the line for the visitors’ try in the 42nd minute after a chip from Jack Arnott.

But, while Simmonds was off the field, Warriors overturned a one-point deficit and were 21-8 ahead when the flanker returned.

Visiting hooker Ted Stagg struggled with his throws to the line-out and Warriors broke the deadlock in the 20th minute.

Mulchrone picked up the loose ball from Stagg’s over-throw to dart through a gap to break Albion’s resistance. Symons’ conversion put the hosts 7-0 up.

Albion got on the scoreboard before the interval after their front row won a penalty and Declan Cusack fired over a long-range penalty.

But Warriors had a great chance to score on the stroke of half-time after Mieres made an interception. With Symons in acres of space, however, Mieres delivered a poor pass to the centre, who could not hold onto the ball.

Worcester made a slow start to the second period and Albion took the lead when Arnott’s run and chip ahead was fumbled by Sam Lewis and Woods picked up to dive over.

Albion were reduced to 14 men when Simmonds was dispatched to the sin-bin for not releasing. Worcester made the most of their numerical advantage and, after a sustained period of pressure, Chris Pennell surged over after a neat offload from Mike Williams.

Symons’ conversion put Warriors 14-8 ahead and only a last-ditch tackle from replacement Tom Heard stopped home skipper Gerrit-Jan van Velze from adding to their tally. However, Worcester immediately regained the loose ball and Max Stelling crossed the whitewash.

Symons nailed the conversion and Warriors soon notched their fourth try. Mulchrone’s quickly-taken tap-and-go caught the visiting defence off guard and Pennell’s off-load sent Ben Howard speeding over in the corner.

Worcester were reduced to 13 men when, firstly van Velze was shown a yellow card and then Williams was sent to the sin-bin. Somehow Worcester held firm at a five-metre defensive scrum and managed to win a penalty, which was greeted by the loudest roar of the day. Symons had the final word with a late penalty on a frustrating afternoon for the hosts.