Barkley snatches Sixways win

Olly Barkley kicked a last-minute penalty to have the last laugh in his kicking duel with Andy Goode as Bath edged out Worcester 24-23 at Sixways.

Goode looked to have won it for the hosts when he nailed a penalty - his sixth of the afternoon - with two minutes left, only for Barkley to trump him with his eighth successful three-pointer in the dying seconds.

The home side had raced out to a 12-0 with Goode initially solid with the boot as he slotted a 40-metre penalty in just the second minute.

Minutes later Bath offended in the ruck area and again the outside half was on target, this time from 35 metres.

The Warriors continued to dominate play and when Matt Banahan was penalised for not rolling away at a ruck, Goode converted his third penalty to give his side a 9-0 lead after only 10 minutes.

Worse was to follow for Banahan and Bath. The centre was yellow carded for a deliberate knock on and again Goode made no mistake with his penalty kick.

Banahan was soon joined in the sin-bin by rival captains, Stewart Hooper and Dean Schofield, who were yellow carded by young referee, Luke Pearce, after a substantial melee involving most of the forwards.

Barkley reduced the arrears with the first of his eight penalties and Banahan then returned with no damage done to his side's chances.

Error

Another error from the Warriors saw Josh Drauniniu fail to collect an up-and-under and another penalty was conceded for offside which Barkley kicked from 45 metres.

A simple penalty from Goode after 32 minutes made it 15-6 to the Warriors and they should have extended that lead when they blew the best try scoring opportunity of the half.

Goode, David Lemi and Josh Matavesi combined brilliantly in a sweeping 70-metre move but Lemi's scoring pass to Goode was ruled forward.

Bath scored the first points of the second half when Barkley was successful with a 45-metre penalty and the lead was soon down to three points with another simple goal from the outside half.

The Warriors conceded another penalty at the ruck area to allow Barkley to level the score before he gave the visitors the lead for the first time in the match with a 35-metre penalty after 65 minutes.

Stung by the reverse Worcester immediately brought on three replacements and it soon paid dividends when Percival drove over from close range but Goode's conversion rebounded back of a post which proved costly as Barkley was successful with his longest penalty of the game to give Bath a one-point lead with six minutes remaining.

Back came the Warriors to secure two penalties in the Bath 22, Goode surprisingly missed the first but kept his nerve to kick the second, although Barkley made no mistake with his eighth penalty and with it an away victory.