Wing wonders Miles Benjamin and Marcel Garvey grabbed first half tries for Warriors and back row ace Kai Horstmann raced in just after the break with a brace from Will Bowley claiming a bonus point.

However, Director of Rugby Mike Ruddock could only watch on as his side leaked seven tries against an incisive home side in a game played at a lightening pace throughout.

Ruddock had opted to hand youth a chance to shine with rising stars like Joe Carlisle, Matt Mullan, James Collins and Miles Benjamin all given an opportunity to stake a claim for more first team rugby.

Wing Benjamin got an early taste of the action when he was flattened by opposite number Dominic Shabbo but the youngster did well to retain the ball before Matt Powell hacked clear.

Full back Chris Pennell also showed no signs of nerves with a brilliant high take under pressure from Sailosi Tagicakibau before skipping around his man and down the line to make some crucial yards.

Warriors lost Chris Fortey to blood before Irish threatened an opening score when fly half Eoghan Hickey danced through the defence but his pass out wide was clipped by Netani Talei and cleared by Pennell.

The Exiles should have made the first breakthrough on 10 minutes when they were rewarded for early territorial dominance with a penalty. But Hickey sliced horribly wide from in front of the posts.

Warriors were being pinned back for long periods and the home side finally broke through on 13 minutes when the ball was recycled left through quick hands and the final pass found centre Gonzalo Tiesi who just had enough room to scramble over. Hickey finally found his range with the conversion.

Irish looked dangerous with ball in hand and Warriors were having to work extremely hard to gain any possession for long periods in the opening quarter.

Worcester finally got ball in hand on 18 minutes with skipper Powell arching a run after a clean lineout win from Will Bowley. Powerhouse centre Dom Feaunati took the ball on before Pennell popped up on the wing. The full back kicked ahead and was only just beaten to the ball by Hickey as he looked to touch down.

Warriors were suddenly making a real impact with Carlisle showing good strength to offload before Mark Tucker knocked on in contact with the line in his sight after a sharp inside pass from Bowley.

Worcester were looking the better side and struck just after the midway point of the half after the forwards had taken the ball on with real desire. Powell opted to look left after sucking Irish men in and Pennell applied the final pass as Benjamin slid over in the corner. Carlisle was just wide with his conversion attempt but the lead was cut to two points.

Any joy was short lived, though, as Hickey opted to kick for the corner after Rawlinson was penalised and the decision paid off handsomely as Irish smashed the Worcester defensive line before flanker Steffon Armitage crashed over. Hickey added the extras.

James Collins burst impressively from deep to set up a response from Worcester but the Warriors were finding it hard to unlock a well organised home defence. The visiting forward also took up the challenge by rumbling close after another clean lineout win by Rawlinson but when it went right the ball was knocked on by Fortey.

It seemed only a matter of time before Worcester were rewarded for their creative edge and it was Carlisle who was the architect of try number two. His intelligent looping pass over Shabbo was collected by Garvey who pressed the gas and used Benjamin as a dummy to dive over. Carlisle failed wide right with the extras.

But once again Worcester proved vulnerable just after getting a foot back in the door. Topsy Ojo just failed to go all the way after jinking his way past Darren Morris. But more slick hands from the home side created the space for Richard Thorpe to bulldoze over with Hickey’s conversion making it 21-10 at the break.

Warriors needed a positive start in the second period but were soon further behind when Tucker failed to stop Tiesi and wing Tagicakibau showed good strength to race in under the posts to give Hickey a simple conversion.

The heavens opened on both teams just minutes after the restart and Hickey did little to improve the Worcester mood with a penalty to edge them further ahead.

Summer signing Shaun Ruwers was introduced to make his first team debut and Worcester hit back with Talei offloading to Kai Horstmann who ran in from 20 metres as the open rugby continued. Carlisle added the extras to cut the lead to 31-17.

The attacking nature of the game continued with Irish grabbing a fifth of the afternoon when wave after wave of attack was rewarded with Nils Mordt the man to just make it over. Hickey added the simple conversion.

Shane Drahm entered the battle on the hour to replace Carlisle but within seconds Irish had crashed over again as a catch and drive resulted in a try from Thorpe from close range.

Worcester hit back with Bowley the man to score after neat hands and strong running from Powell, Drahm hit the post with his kick, before Irish responded with a try in the corner from Warren Fury.

Both teams continued to go for tries at every opportunity with Uche Oduoza inches from collecting a cross field kick from Drahm with acres of open space in front of him. Oduoza then turned provider when he powered down the right but his inside pass to Craig Everett was knocked on by the young back row with the line at his mercy from 25 metres out.

Finally the finishing touch to a bizarre game came in the final minute when Drahm and Collins combined to allow Bowley to scamper over for his second of the game.

Timeline:
13m Tiesi t Hickey c 7-0
22m Benjamin t 7-5
25m Armitage t Hickey c 14-5
36m Garvey t 14-10
40m Thorpe t Hickey c 21-10
44m Tagicakibau t Hickey c 28-10
48m Hickey p 31-10
50m Horstmann t Carlisle c 31-17
58m Mordt t Hickey c 38-17
61m Thorpe t 43-17
66m Bowley t 43-22
68m Fury t 48-22
79m Bowley t 48-27

Warriors: 01 Matt Mullan, 02 Chris Fortey (Windo 6-14 blood, 67), 03 Darren Morris (Ruwers 48), 04 Greg Rawlinson (Murphy 63), 05 Will Bowley, 06 Netani Talei (Everett 74), 07 James Collins, 08 Kai Horstmann, 09 Matt Powell (Arr 67), 10 Joe Carlisle (Drahm 60), 11 Marcel Garvey, 12 Dominic Feaunati, 13 Mark Tucker (Oduoza 73), 14 Miles Benjamin, 15 Chris Pennell

Replacements: 16 Tony Windo, 17 Shaun Ruwers, 18 Phil Murphy, 19 Craig Everett, 20 Jonny Arr, 21 Shane Drahm, 22 Uche Oduoza