Tom Varndell looked to be on his way out at Bristol a few months ago, hauled off early in the second half in the September defeat by Exeter and told he was not worth a place in the bottom club’s match-day squad. The response of the former England wing, at the age of 31, was not to think of his career in the past tense and his hat-trick of tries in the basement battle allowed the home side to overcome the early dismissal of Tusi Pisi.
Bristol were 10-3 ahead and looking comfortably superior to Worcester, who seemed to play as they had prepared and showed little in the way of thought, when Pisi was sent off after 12 minutes. He followed Billy Searle’s high kick into the Worcester half and looked as if he would catch the ball without leaving the ground, when he noticed Jamie Shillcock jump into the air to get to it first. Pisi turned his head and the Worcester outside-half fell awkwardly to the ground, leaving Wayne Barnes with no option under the recent law directive on potentially unsafe acts but to reach for his red card.
Shillcock also left the pitch not to return, depriving Worcester of their first-choice goal-kicker. He was replaced by the Canadian Connor Braid, who was making his first appearance in the Premiership, and while the Warriors at no point matched Bristol’s hunger at the breakdown and struggled at the lineout throughout, their lack of direction at half-back cost them and they woefully failed to take advantage of their extra man behind.
Bristol’s first try, when they had 15 players, exposed Worcester’s vulnerability. The Warriors were caught out at the back of a lineout when Searle ran into space that was there because the visitors made sure they had covered Will Hurrell, a volcano of a centre whose relish for the task inspired his team-mates. Searle stepped outside rather than inside and Varndell sensing an opportunity, provided support to expose a defence that had gone missing.
Varndell finished the afternoon on 89 Premiership tries, one behind the record holder Mark Cueto. His second, after Will Cliff’s break from the side of a ruck, was down to his determination, getting back up immediately after being ankle-tapped by Chris Pennell. His third was created by the full-back Jason Woodward, Bristol’s best player, whose influence on the game was as profound as that of Worcester’s marquee player, the England centre, Ben Te’o, was muted.
Te’o did set up his side’s first try, breaking tackles and getting close enough to the Bristol line for the second-row Darren Barry to ignore an overlap and reach out to score after being tackled by Hurrell, but such was Worcester’s lack of direction, purpose and vision that he touched the ball only eight times. Their second try, after 64 minutes which brought them to within a point of their rivals, showed the way the game could be won. Worcester moved the ball quickly from their own 22 for Dean Hammond to confuse Woodward and Jack Wallace as they scrambled back and to finish off from 60 metres.
Without ideas Worcester had little territory, even against 14 men for so long, although parity was restored for 10 minutes towards the end of the first half when Barry was sent to the sin-bin for bringing down a maul as it rumbled towards Bristol’s line. They looked throughout relegation candidates throughout while Bristol, admittedly backed by a vocal crowd of more than 16,500, were fuelled by desire; but for Pisi’s red card the Warriors would probably have continued their record of conceding a try bonus point every away Premiership match this season.
Worcester were never more vulnerable than when they had scored a try. Varndell’s second came four minutes after had scored and his third came from the restart after Hammond’s break-out. It was Bristol who picked up the knock-downs and fumbles and in Searle they had an outside-half who put his team in the right areas, although the decision to pull the 20-year old five minutes from the end after an ambitious pass nearly resulted in an interception try that would have put Worcester in bonus-point territory and a kick away from victory, was prudent.
Worcester left with what they deserved: nothing. “Losing Shillcock was crucial and we lacked direction and shape,” said their director of rugby, Carl Hogg. “We are only halfway through the season and have a number of significant players to come back, especially at 9 and 10.” His opposite number, Mark Tainton, reflecting on Bristol’s first Premiership victory since they defeated Worcester in March 2009, paid tribute to Varndell.
“I sat him down a few weeks ago and told him he was the 24th or 25th man and that, if he wanted to get back into the side, he had to show it on the training field. He did and I am delighted with a win that showed the character and resilience of the players, but we will not get ahead of ourselves.”
Bristol Woodward; Wallace, Hurrell, Pisi, Varndell; Searle (Jarvis, 75), Cliff; Bevington (Traynor, 54), Hawkins (Crumpton, 72), Cortes (Ford-Robinson, 62), Tuohy (Phillips, 62), Glynn (Sorenson, 52), Fenton-Wells, Robinson (capt), Eadie.
Tries Varndell 3 Cons Woodward 2 Pens Woodward 3.
Sent off Pisi 12.
Worcester Pennell; Hammond, Te’o, Willison, Vuna (Adams, 68); Shillcock (Braid, 12), Dowsett; Leleimalefaga, Bregvadze (Singleton, 54), Schonert (Johnston, 75), Scotland-Williamson (Spencer, 52), Barry, Potgieter (capt), Lewis, Faosiliva (Dowson, 57).
Tries Barry, Hammond. Cons Pennell 2. Pen Shillcock, Pennell.
Sin-bin Barry 32. Referee W Barnes Attendance 16,552.
