Worcester Warriors lose to Zebre in European Challenge Cup

Seventeen points from the boot of Carlo Canna helped Pro12 side Zebre defeat the Aviva Premiership's Worcester Warriors 27-8 in the European Challenge Cup this afternoon.

Marcello Violi got the Italian club off to a flyer straight from the kickoff, Andrea Manici bursting through the Worcester defence before offloading to the scrum half to score.

Canna kicked the conversion before adding a penalty five minutes later.

Tommaso Boni added the second after good hands found him alone out on the wing, before Canna kicked a drop goal after failing with the conversion attempt.

Ryan Lamb got Worcester's first points on the board with a penalty after 22 minutes, but the Premiership team found themselves down to 14 men when Sam Betty was penalised for collapsing a maul.

Canna added another penalty after the break before the wind and the rain started to break the game down, with both teams struggling with handling in the poor conditions.

Canna added three again before Dean Hammond went over two minutes from time to give Worcester a consolation try.

The result means that Zebre move into second in Pool 3, while Warriors drop down to third.