The last year of Shane Drahm's life has not been enjoyable.

On the pitch, the Worcester fly half has not so much blotted his copybook as drenched it in ink and flushed it down the toilet; off it, things have been even worse.

After two years of sterling service at Sixways, in which he had played no little part in keeping the club in the Guinness Premiership, the Australian had sunk to third, even fourth choice for a team that had won just once all season.

Indeed, last month his stock had fallen so low that he was one of three players banished en masse to help Launceston fight for their National One lives. It was difficult to see the 30-year-old ever wearing Blue-and-Gold again.

He probably wouldn't have, had Loki Crichton been able to hit a barn door with a cow's posterior, James Brown come somewhere close to fulfilling his modest talents, or young Joey Carlisle remained fit.

But problems in his personal life dwarfed such professional concerns in November last year when he was involved in an incident in Worcester city centre that ended with a man needing 15 stitches in his face.

Drahm admitted a charge of malicious and unlawful wounding and was ordered to do 200 hours community service and pay his victim £3,000 compensation after what was described as a 'swinging arm rugby league-style tackle'.

Although he played in the aftermath to the case, he was a shadow of the mischievous imp who had inspired the Great Escape a few months earlier.

His creative spirit lacked its usual freedom, his defence always suspect became little short of porous and his decision-making could only be described as awful.

A desperate performance in the home defeat against Harlequins just after Christmas seemed to have spelled the end. Crichton came in and played well until it became apparent Worcester would not survive with an absence of a kicking game at outside half.

That afforded Drahm a reprieve, though it was still to general surprise that he was recalled to the starting line-up for last Friday's unenviable trip to Sale.

Even now, those who were at Edgeley Park struggle to believe what they witnessed as the former Northampton man responded with an inspired performance and steered his team to a well-deserved 22-15 victory.

Five goals from five attempts were surpassed only by a scintillating 60-metre break from under his own posts that led to the night's sole try.

It wasn't just vintage Drahm, it was a very good vintage. He is now certain to start tomorrow's appointment with another of the country's heavyweights, Leicester Tigers, knowing a second consecutive win would effectively guarantee the club's place in next year's top flight.

With Drahm due to leave the Midlands at the end of the campaign, having agreed to join Japanese club Kubota Spears, it would be the perfect legacy.

"A couple of weeks ago, I was questioning whether I would play for Worcester again," Drahm admitted. "I went out on loan to Launceston to play and had a really good time, they are a great bunch of guys, but I guess it was a reality check.

"It would have been a difficult way to finish my career at Warriors by not playing in the first team and being on the field, I have always enjoyed my time here. To play in games like the Sale clash and play like I did makes me really proud."

For the first time in months, Drahm's public persona wears a smile once more and it seems his professional reputation has been rehabilitated when it could have disappeared altogether.

He is reluctant to talk about his conviction but it is not difficult to detect a sense of injustice. "It was a tough time and it did have a big impact on both me and my form," he said. "I felt I was unfortunate and harshly dealt with but you move on. That's life, I guess. The club were very supportive and there is a lot that people don't know."

Drahm had become involved when he saw a man abusing a nurse who was trying to help his son. The player claimed in court he was racially abused and it was accepted by both sides that he was kicked in the leg. It would be a stonyheart that did not feel Drahm had been made an example of. He hopes now that he has set his own example.

"Hopefully, I can keep my form up and work hard to keep my place in the team now," he said.

"The guys have been great but to come back in from the wilderness and put on a show like that just makes me really proud, I didn't want to finish my career with Warriors on a downer, I wanted to show what I was capable of but the No 1 thing is the team. It is not about personal accomplishments but how we are shaping up as a team.

"I want to go out on a high for this club, we now need to keep this up. We all want to build momentum for the club and I want to push up to a mid-table spot.

"We need to pick up where we left off against Sale. It's been a problem for us that we can play like we did against Sale and then the following week we under-perform.

"We have to really keep raising the bar now. We have a group of fighters at the club and that spirit is really going strong now. With the home support behind us there is no reason why we can't get a result against Leicester."

After all, Shane Drahm has shown anything is possible.