WARRIORS' side Worcester Sixth Form College fell to their first defeat of the season in the AASE League play-offs as Saracens’ Oaklands College won 19-7.

In a hard-fought contest between two physical teams at Nunnery Wood Sports Complex, a sending off heavily influenced the outcome.

A tense opening 10 minutes saw both teams throw everything at each other before what was deemed a dangerous late tackle from Lamaar Lawrence saw the youngster shown a red card.

This meant Worcester battled bravely, defending their line for the rest of the first half to leave the score at 0-0.

During that period Worcester still made inroads with big carries from George Parker and Morgan Monks which deserved more.

The second half started with Oaklands flying out the blocks and making use of the space out wide to score a converted try.

This was the first of a quick succession of three tries all scored in similar fashion that took the score to 19-0.

But Worcester showed their spirit yet again and the last 15 minutes was all attack, leading to Rob Lester crashing through and Jake Leonard converting.

Worcester then threw everything at Oaklands but fell short on numerous occasions.

Warriors AASE manager Ryan Watkins said: “These boys will just never give in and they can be proud of the character and resolve they showed as a team to battle through.

“Even when down to 14 men we could have won the game. We just need to sharpen up and do everything we can to amend the result next week.’’

Worcester can still qualify for the main AASE final but it is dependent on other results.

They play Brooksby Melton College (Leicester Tigers) on Wednesday at Nunnery Wood (2pm).