Drahm at the heart of Worcester uprising

The Australian fly-half, who moved from Northampton in the summer, slotted five penalties, as Worcester recorded their first victory over their Midland rivals.

"I thought it was Shane's best performance so far," Eddy said. "He controlled the game, dictated play for us and he gave us that field position that we so desired. He is playing, however, with a pack who can set a good platform."

On the victory, Eddy was happy for Worcester to notch up that elusive first win against Leicester after suffering against them last season. "It's very satisfying," he said. "The team worked hard all week for this. We defended well for the entire game. Against Leicester, you have to dominate possession and field position and we did."

Leicester were missing a host of players because of international commitments but Eddy was quick to point out that his side were shorn of the influential Pat Sanderson and Chris Horsman. Sanderson was on the touchline to cheer his team-mates on and Eddy believes that shows the spirit inside the Worcester camp. "We can compete against anybody in the Premiership," he added.

Leicester's head coach, Pat Howard, admitted Worcester dominated up front. "Worcester played to their strengths," he said. "They do that very well and we've lost the game. We've no complaints."

In Friday's other match, Wasps made some atonement for their European travails with a 21-16 win against Bristol, the champions' first victory in three games. Tries from flanker Tom Rees and wing Tom Voyce and 14 points from the kicker Alex King helped Wasps recover from a 13-3 deficit on the 200th league appearance by their captain Lawrence Dallaglio.

And their coach, Ian McGeechan, believes they are now focused on grinding out results and playing the percentages following their defeat at Edinburgh and last weekend's 15-15 draw against Toulouse in the Heineken Cup.

"It was very important for us to win this game with players missing [on international duty] and after last week when we only managed a draw," said McGeechan. "We have to learn to be patient. Tonight we were pretty disciplined in not trying to play in the wrong areas."

Wasps needed two superb individual scores, Rees breaking two tackles on his way to the line and Voyce eluding half-a-dozen defenders on a sizzling 80-metre run, to break them.

For Voyce it was the perfect response to the England coach, Andy Robinson, after being dropped from the national squad on Thursday. "I've told Andy Robinson I think he's an underestimated player," said McGeechan. "He's got a physical edge and he's very clever. The try showed what a great finisher he is."

The loss was Bristol's fourth Premiership defeat in a row.