Swanepoel's dismissal fails to halt Worcester

London Welsh 7 Worcester 53

Werner Swanepoel, the former South African scrum-half, is quick, very quick in everything he does. His passes are delivered swiftly and precisely to Craig Chalmers, his feet take him away from the despairing clutches of flankers, and his temper got him sent off in the 26th minute for illegal use of the foot on the face of London Welsh flanker, Florent Rossigneux. The touch judge had no doubt – nor did Rossigneux, who was left flat on the ground – that Swanepoel meant it. If the disciplinary panel is equally convinced, he could receive a ban, for as long as 60 days, making him unavailable for the crucial away match against last seasons' champions, Rotherham.

Andy Keast, Worcester's coach, was non-committal afterwards. "We have accepted Werner's explanation of what happened. There was no malice in the game but 30 minutes of some of the most scintillating rugby I have seen anywhere in the world."

The half-hour Keast referred to was the one which Swanepoel played. Worcester completely dominated and secured all available points with four unanswered tries but losing Swanepoel would hamper them against tough opponents.

Win and bonus point secure, the rest should have been an exhibition, or more of an exhibition because even reduced to 14 men they played sparkling rugby, adding four further tries.

The arrival of Keast as coach as well as Swanepoel has given the nearly men of professional rugby great wit and invention in attack. The forwards are extremely efficient at taking the ball forward and presenting at the barked command of Swanepoel but the backs provide the thrills and excitement.

They possess a squadron of flyers in Duncan Roke, Nnamdi Ezulike, Ben Hinshelwood and Chris Garrard and are keen to use them as often as possible. Angles are run aggressively, pop passes timed so well that a stride is not broken and the defensive line is breached.

Hinshelwood was particularly effective, his strength allowing him to break tackles and his angle selection wrong-foots the opposition. Like the others he was helped by some weak Welsh tackles but that was partly due to the amount they had to make. No respite meant no chance for a breather and unlike Rotherham a fortnight ago, Worcester were ruthless for the entire match.

Even after Swanepoel's dismissal they continued to spread the ball wide, trusting to their attacking instincts so much that they gained 17 points before half-time. Their dominance was such that it took the Welsh 52 minutes to score, an interception try by David Officer.

The division is very much a two-horse race. With the pitches firm, Worcester look like world-beaters but the Rotherham pack is a formidable machine that grinds forward relentlessly. The matches between these two should decide both the title and promotion.

London Welsh: P Farmer; M Whittingdale, G Foreman (Catt, 73), S Ravenscroft, J Swords; R Mahony, T Lewsey; S Millard, C Ritchie (Botterman, 73), S Phillips (Cano, 73), T Collier, A Johnson (Eagle, 64), P Mansfield, F Rossigneux, M Fitzgerald (capt) (Griffith, 69).

Worcester: D Roke; N Ezulike, D Officer (Trueman, 19), B Hinshelwood, C Garrard; C Chalmers, W Swanepoel (capt); T Windo, C Hall, A Olver, M Gabey, M Morgan, C Evans, R Nias (0'Reilly, 31), R Bates (Jenner, 58).

Referee: M Wilson.