Graham Kitchener's showboating almost costs Worcester a place in the Premiership

Graham Kitchener's showboating almost costs Worcester a place in the Premiership

Graham Kitchener was a relieved man after his showboating almost cost Worcester a place in the Premiership and the £1million that goes with it. As it was, they scraped through their play-off semi-final against Bedford 23-22 at Sixways.

All's well in the end: Worcester celebrate having scraped past Bedford Photo: ACTION IMAGES

By Paul Bolton 5:08PM BST 01 May 2011

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The Leicester-bound England Saxons lock thought that he had scored the winning try and began celebrating before he had touched down. Kitchener was caught in the in-goal area by Bedford full-back Edd Thrower and his ‘try’ was disallowed after television replays showed that he had knocked on.

Worcester needed a close range try from captain Kai Horstmann, while Bedford had prop Sam Walsh in the sin bin, and a nerveless conversion from Joe Carlisle in the ninth minute of stoppage time to spare Kitchener’s blushes. Worcester will now meet Cornish Pirates, who beat London Welsh 18-10, in the two-legged final.

“He got carried away thinking he had scored a try. You need to get over the line quickly and make sure it’s secured. Fortunately hi s mates got him out of trouble and it didn’t affect the result,” said Worcester head coach Richard Hill.

Kitchener’s moment of madness typified a nervous error-riddled by Worcester who struggled to cope with a lively Bedford side who eased into a 16 points lead.

“The players were anxious, the jitters came in and we made lots of handling errors which was symptomatic of the pressure that was on them,” Hill said.

A Bedford win would have meant no relegation from the Premiership this season as Worcester were the only one of the Championship semi-finalists whose facilities meet the criteria for the top flight.

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Telegraph.feedsportal.com