Henry Arundell gets double as London Irish cruise past crisis club Worcester

This was a desperate afternoon for the destitute Worcester, and every bit as emphatic as the scoreline suggests. It is tempting to say it will be a long season for the crisis-hit club but given the uncertainty swirling over their future, they cannot even be afforded that phrase with certainty. Second-half tries from Curtis Langdon and Jamie Shillcock at least ensured they did not head home pointless as well as penniless, but it was a sobering afternoon on which the Warriors found little refuge on the pitch.

There was no little endeavour, a predictably fast start but once Irish weathered the early storm they found holes in the Worcester defence all too easy to exploit, finishing with seven tries, including two for Henry Arundell, whose golden touch does not seem to have deserted him over the summer.

The Warriors can take some heart from the fact that they did not capitulate late on given their lack of preparation: their only pre-season fixture had to be cancelled. But here was a reminder of the reality they face just four months after clinching the Premiership Rugby Cup at the same ground.

They had to play in last season’s kit – this season’s remains with the suppliers – and needed special dispensation to not have numbers on the back of their jerseys. They needed a club sponsor to provide the van to transport their equipment, and question marks remain over whether they can meet the operational cost of hosting Exeter at Sixways next Sunday.

They did, to their credit, begin with a ferocious intensity, all that tension washing off the players’ shoulders as soon as they crossed the whitewash. Ollie Lawrence, fit again after a torrid season last term, was to the fore, busting the Irish line, while Matt Kvesic was equally