DOUBLE BLOW FOR WARRIORS; Latham injured as Worcester crash to defeat.

Byline: BRIAN DICK at Sixways

WORCESTER 20

SALE SHARKS 37

STUNNED Sixways saw the best of their Wizard of Oz Chris Latham as he scored a magical solo try, only to fear the worst when he was carried off soon after.

The former Wallaby needed a stretcher and an oxygen mask when leaving the field on the quarter hour after being trapped at the bottom of a ruck.

Ten minutes earlier he had dummied his way to an outstanding individual try that put his team ahead and everything looked golden.

But it proved to be one of the few high points of a match that went from bad to worse for a Worcester side that has not won in the Premiership since November.

Yesterday's loss, however, could be just part of the story if they lose their talismanic full back for any length of time.

Mike Ruddock is hopeful that will not happen. "He has gone to hospital to have a scan," the director of rugby said.

"We are optimistic he is going to be okay. It looks like neck ligaments. He lost a little bit of feeling in the arms and legs for a while but it has all returned now.

"The medical boys seemed pretty confident he is going to be okay. It was a collision, where the head got hit and the spinal cord got jammed for a split second - that created a shocker-type force."

In the end, Latham's absence allowed Charlie Hodgson to win the kicking exchanges and push the hosts back.

That gave them the position to score four tries and secure what by the end was a routine victory.

Jettisoned England international Hodgson opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Kai Horstmann played the ball on the floor while in front of his ownposts. The Sale man accepted a simple three points.

Seconds later though, Latham had put his team ahead. Aleki Lutui smashed up into midfield and won a penalty. But Joey Carlisle played the advantage, fed the Australian and stood back as he raced clear from 40 metres. Carlisle's conversion from straight in front made it 7-3.

But Sebastien Chabal smashed his way through Greg Rawlinson in the 20th minute and romped to the line.

The Frenchman was stopped short but Horstmann had to slow down the ball by slapping it out of Dwayne Peel's hands.

That earned the No 8 a yellow card and gave Hodgson three more points.

With a man advantage the Stockport side ran riot.

Hodgson nicked a 26th minute drop-goal and then a break by Peel backed Warriors on their line again. Lee Thomas went close before Chris Jones shrugged off Netani Telai's attentions and flopped over. Hodgson's extra points then made it 16-7.

Carlisle pulled three back on the half hour but the visitors led 16-10 at the break.

The 21-year-old narrowed the deficit two minutes after the restart when Sharks infringed at a ruck.

And Worcester might have gone ahead when Loki Crichton raced out of his 22 and was supported by Rawlinson and Will Bowley.

But as the Sale defence looked stretched Dale Rasmussen ignored the men outside him and lost the ball in contact.

Oriol Ripol punished them when he followed up Mathew Tait's slaloming run on 51 minutes to touch down under the sticks.

Then just after the hour Neil Briggs snaffled a loose pass from Carlisle as the youngster tried to attack from deep in his own territory. Hodgson improved both for 30-13.

Worcester's final bright spot came nine minutes from the end with a try from Marcel Garvey.

The wing was playing his first competitive match of the season after coming back from a hip injury.

Good pressure by the forwards created space for Hal Luscombe to feed Garvey for the flying wing to mark his return to the side and a very promising performance.

But Sale were to have the last word. With a minute to go Chris Bell waltzed over.

SCORERS: Worcester: tries - Latham, Garvey; cons - Carlisle (2); pens - Carlisle (2) Sale: tries - Jones C, Ripol, Briggs, Bell; cons - Hodgson (4); pens - Hodgson (2); DG - Hodgson

CAPTION(S):

TRY-MENDOUS: Warriors' Chris Latham dives over to score against Sale Sharks before his horror injury; GRIT: Warriors' Dale Rasmussen