Worcester Warriors v Newcastle Falcons Saturday 10^th May 3pm

Current Form

·        Another match between two closely matched sides sees Worcester and Newcastle battle it out for 10^th place in the Premiership.

·        Worcester won only their second away match of the season last Saturday at Bristol and temporarily leapfrogged Newcastle into 10^th position in the league.

·        They have played 10 matches at home this season, winning 3, losing 5 and drawing 2.

·        Newcastle beat Leicester on Sunday and lost to London Wasps on Wednesday, both at home, and are presently 10^th in the league, 3 points ahead of Worcester.

·        They have played 10 matches away from home this season, losing 9 and winning at Saracens.

History

·        Worcester and Newcastle have met 7 times in Premiership rugby since 2004.

·        Worcester have won 3 games and Newcastle 4.

·        Worcester have won 2 of the 3 matches played at Sixways, the last 2.

·        Worcester beat Newcastle 31-16 at Sixways in the semi-final of the European Challenge Cup 3 weeks ago.

·        A league double has never been achieved by either side in this fixture. The results sequence for Worcester goes lost/won/lost/won/lost/won/lost. Worcester will be strong favourites on Saturday based on the evidence of this trend.

·        Newcastle won the first league fixture by 21 points but the following 6 matches have all been decided by single figure margins.

·        Newcastle beat Worcester 15-12 at Kingston Park in January this year.

Trends and Trivia

·        If Worcester win on Saturday they will beat the 34 league points they accumulated last season. The gained 42 points in 2004/05 and 47 in 2005/06.

·        Worcester scored 18 tries away from home this season to equal their Premiership best mark of  2005/06.

·        They have already equalled their best ever return of 22 tries at home in a Premiership season. Just one try one Saturday will set a new record.

·        Worcester have only converted 28 penalty kicks this season which is the lowest number in the Premiership. It is also the fewest kicked by Worcester in their 4 seasons in the Premiership, previously 39 in 2004/05.

·        Worcester have scored 336 points this season, 168 at home and 168 away. Last season they scored 346, their lowest total to date.

·        Worcester conceded 290 points away from home this season, the most they have ever conceded in the Premiership. However, they have only conceded 172 points at home this season, the least they have ever conceded in the Premiership.

·        Worcester should be going all-out for a try bonus point on Saturday. They have only gained 4 in 4 seasons in the Premiership, the last one being 2 years ago.

·        Shane Drahm has scored 109 points in the Premiership for Worcester this season. This will be the 3^rd season in succession he has been top scorer.

·        Miles Benjamin is Worcester’s leading Premiership try scorer with 7.

·        Craig Gillies and Tevita Taumoepeau have both played in all 21 Premiership games for Worcester this season.

·        If Newcastle win at Worcester they are likely to finish in 9^th place in the Guinness Premiership, lose and they will finish 11^th. Their worst ever Premiership finish was 10^th in 2002/03.

·        Newcastle scored 194 points in the Premiership at home this season. The first time they have ever failed to score 200. Their previous lowest was 220 in 1999/00.

·        They have only scored less than the 20 tries they scored at home this season once, again in 1999/00 when they managed just 16.

·        Newcastle have only scored 323 points in the Premiership this season. Their lowest ever total was 377 in 1999/00

·        Newcastle have only scored 129 points away from home this season, the lowest number by any team in the Premiership. They only scored 135 points in 2002/03 so a converted try on Saturday would pass that mark.

·        Newcastle did not manage to land a conversion on Wednesday night so they have still only kicked 19 this season. Their worst total to date in a season was 23 in 1999/00 and it is going to be difficult to beat that.

·        Jonny Wilkinson is Newcastle’s top points scorer this season with 85 and Tom May now has 7 tries to his credit.

·        Tom May is the only Newcastle player to have appeared in 20 of their 21 Guinness Premiership matches this season.