Higgins hits back to hurt the Warriors.

WORCESTER 17

BATH 34

ANDREW Higgins returned to torment Worcester by running in a hat-trick of tries at Sixways which helped a weakened Bath claim victory.

Higgins, who was first signed by Worcester as a schoolboy, ran in a long-range interception effort in the first half and crossed twice more from shorter distances after the break to keep Bath on course for the Premiership play-offs.

Worcester, who have beaten Bath only once in 11 Premiership meetings, were 14-10 up at half-time but they leaked three tries after the break.

Warriors director of rugby Mike Ruddock said: "In the first half I thought our defence was fantastic and I said to our boys at half-time that if we could keep up that intensity we could win the game.

"Unfortunately we didn't. We made a couple of individual errors that let them in.

"The scoreline did flatter them a little bit although Bath were the better team. For my team it's key errors that keep coming back to bite us."

Higgins' third try in injury time gave Bath - who were without 10 first-teamers - the bonus point and left Worcester, without a win in their last five games, facing a scrap with Bristol to avoid relegation.

Worcester were second best for most of the match but scored their two tries in a three minute period in an entertaining first half.

Burst The first 10 points of the game were also scored in a three-minute burst as fly-half Butch James nudged Bath in front with a 10th-minute penalty, then Higgins latched onto a poor pass from Joey Carlisle for his opening try.

James added the conversion but Worcester stunned Bath with two converted tries between the 25th and 28th minutes.

Bath turned over possession and Kai Horstmann recycled possession. Centre Loki Crichton launched the counter-attack and the ball was slipped inside to former Australia full-back Chris Latham who cantered over.

Carlisle converted and then atoned for his earlier error by popping a superb pass to Horstmann who made ground through the middle.

Prop Matt Mullan was hauled down short of the line but Worcester kept the ball alive and flanker Tom Wood, making his first start in four months, sent Crichton over for a stunning try which Carlisle improved.

Bath reappeared in determined mood at the start of the second half and they reclaimed the lead within four minutes of the restart.

A multi-phase attack stretched Worcester's defence and created an overlap for Higgins to run in his second try.

Bath increased their lead when Shontayne Hape made ground and drew Latham before he gave Joe Maddock the scoring pass.

Though Willie Walker, signed on loan from Gloucester for the rest of the season, landed a penalty with his first kick for Worcester, he was off-target with a kickable second.

Instead Higgins scored again in injury-time and James put over the conversion to maintain his 100 per cent kicking record.

SCORERS: Worcester - tries: Latham, Crichton; conversions: Carlisle (2); penalties: Walker. Bath - tries: Higgins (3), Maddock; conversions: James (4); penalties: James (2).

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TAKING FLIGHT: Warrior Chris Latham dives to score