England's endless World Cup inquest may continue to dog Lewis Moody's steps but the former England captain left Worcester with another headache on Friday night. Just a couple of hours after hearing that £2,500 had been shaved off his £10,000 fine for wearing a branded mouthguard in New Zealand, Moody's dismal week ended after his legs turned to jelly in a head-on clash with the Worcester wing Marcel Garvey.
After trying smelling salts on the field, the medics led Moody away to clear his head in the sick bay. He returned for 10 minutes after the interval but by then Worcester were 10-0 up following Miles Benjamin's try and on their way to only a second win over Bath in 15 meetings.
With the All Black Stephen Donald making a very ordinary league debut, their lineout a shambles and the England hopeful Dave Attwood carried off on a stretcher 14 minutes from time, it was an evening Bath will want to forget.
Attwood was given the all-clear despite being taken to hospital with a neck injury. The Bath director of rugby, Sir Ian McGeechan, revealed the lock would travel back with the squad but, having missed the chance to move into the play-off zone, the return coach journey might have been a quiet one.
"We didn't show the intensity of last Sunday [against Montpellier]," McGeechan said. "We were pretty average and we have no excuses. Things have to be far better than they were tonight. We have to look hard at ourselves. We did not do ourselves justice."
Although Charlie Beech and the pack rumbled over to add a bit more spice to the final 10 minutes, Andy Goode's late drop goal denied Bath a losing bonus point and applied the gloss to a win which puts a nine-point gap between Worcester and Newcastle at the bottom of the table.
The victory still came at a cost, however, as Worcester also suffered their share of injuries during a bruising battle, with the prop Matt Mullan hurting a shoulder and the flanker Neil Best suffering a suspected broken arm.
"We have now got only two fit props, so it was a bit of a costly game for us," the Worcester head coach, Richard Hill, said. "But to get the win will give everyone a big boost. We asked for our best performance of the season and I think we probably did that.
"We didn't look jittery. We went out with confidence, although we didn't get the rewards until just before half-time with Miles's try. We managed to close the game out, which was key. That was a big psychological thing for us – a massive step forward."
Worcester E Claassens (Pennell, 58); Garvey, Grove, Rasmussen (capt; Goode, 66), Benjamin; Carlisle, Perry (Arr, h-t) ; Mullan (Douglas, 50), Shervington, Taumoepeau, Jones (Gulliver, 69), Gillies, Best (Abbott, 70), Betty, Kvesic.
Try Benjamin Con Carlisle Pen Carlisle 2 Drop goal Goode.
Bath Abendanon; Woodburn, Hipkiss, Vesty (Barkley, 54), Biggs (Cuthbert, 58); Donald, M Claassens (McMillan, 66); Beech, Lilley (Tanner, 67), Perenise, Attwood (Flatman, 66), Caldwell (Hooper, 50), Louw, Moody (capt; Mercer 50), Taylor.
Try Beech Con Barkley.
Referee M Fox (Leicestershire). Attendance 10,694.
