And the victory sent a signal to Bath that the Warriors will be no pushovers when the two meet in the European Challenge Cup final at Kingsholm in a fortnight.

Worcester made their intentions clear from the start as a hesitant Newcastle side made numerous handling errors.

Captain Pat Sanderson put the Warriors in front after five minutes, crossing from a metre out at an attacking ruck.

They increased their lead from a neat move at a line-out. Tongan hooker Aleki Lutui threw to Greg Rawlinson for the 6ft 7in All Black to return the ball to his colleague on the touchline for a try.

Newcastle woke up when wing Ollie Phillips spectacularly leapt over the home midfield and ran in from 30 metres for fly-half Steve Jones to convert, although it did not help that hooker Rob Vickers was sin-binned after 28 minutes for pulling an opponent's shirt.

But the comeback was stifled just before half-time as Drahm, who converted Sanderson's try, booted a penalty while Wales prop Chris Horsman went in at the corner.

On the stroke of half-time, though, Jones cut the deficit to 10 points with a long 35-metre penalty.

The floodgates opened, though, almost from the re-start. Delport was put in at the corner by Drahm while wing prospect Miles Benjamin scored twice inside two minutes.

New Zealand legend Rico Gear, in the centre instead of on the wing, got a seventh try for Worcester when he steamed through a gap in the Newcastle midfield.

And soon it was eight when former England wing Marcel Garvey, who had been a thorn in the Falcons' side all afternoon, got a deserved try near the posts for replacement Drew Hickey, who also left Sixways today, to convert.

That took Worcester over 50 points and they had a couple of chances to add a ninth try which would have inflicted the heaviest defeat this season on the beleaguered Falcons.