Worcester v Nottingham: Fitness tells for Warriors - Hogg

Carl Hogg arrived at Sixways as Dean Ryan's number two in the summer of 2013

Worcester scored nine tries at Sixways as they pulled off their biggest win of the season to beat Nottingham 55-16.

But the Warriors had to come from behind after conceding an early try to Nottingham centre Ed Styles.

And five of the Worcester tries did not come until the final 20 minutes.

"Teams are competitive for 50 or 60 minutes. Then we hope our fitness and accuracy can take over in the last 20 minutes," Warriors assistant coach Carl Hogg told BBC Hereford & Worcester.

"We were frustrated in the first half that we made so many errors and we weren't as accurate as we would like but that's a challenge for us going forward."

Summer signing Tom Biggs led the way with a stunning treble against Championship part-timers Nottingham.

Biggs went the length of the field for his first before a dazzling solo run for the second, while a last-minute dash down the left touchline - twice collecting his own kick ahead - sealed a superb hat-trick.

While those were Biggs' first tries for Worcester, fellow winger Sam Smith and centre Max Stelling (2) both got on the scoresheet for the second week running as the Warriors again made light of the continued absence of injured England full-back Chris Pennell.

There was also a penalty try, following a high tackle on Biggs in the corner, while Worcester's other two tries came from scrum-half Jonny Arr and young replacement prop Val Rapava-Ruskin as the Warriors recorded a third straight home league win for the first time in almost two years.

"Val is a very powerful athlete," added Hogg. "He's been coming off the bench and making a really good impact. He has huge potential. We just need to find a platform for him to maximise that.

"And it's good to see guys like Tom Biggs on the ball and people like Sam Smith and Ben Howard. We've got a lot of pace and power out there. It's just a case of creating opportunities."

Worcester's second successive bonus-point win lifts them to within three points of Bristol, who took over after the top of the Championship for the first time this season

Warriors: Howard; Smith, Stelling, Symons, Biggs; Eden, Arr; Bower, George, Schonert, Percival, O'Shea, Williams, Cox, Van Velze (capt).

Replacements: Annett, Daniels, Rapava-Ruskin, Sanderson, Mulchrone, Mieres, Grove.

Nottingham: Robinson; Longi, Styles, Munro, Hough; Maisey, Romans; Holford, Malton, Carey, Freeman, Montagu, Cooper, Wilson, Grant.

Replacements: Vickers, Brownlie, Calladine, Everard, Smit, Mugford, O'Neill.

Attendance: 3,826.