A devastating early second half spell of five goals within just nine minutes helped Worcester City coast to victory at Butlin Road.
Mikey Taylor had given Town a deserved half-time lead against a side challenging for a play-off position, but once the visitors had equalised on 49 minutes, the home defence fell apart as Valley crashed to a fifth successive defeat.
Rugby boss Carl Adams had kept an unchanged starting line-up from the encouraging performance in the 1-0 home loss to Rushden four days earlier, and he saw his side make a bright start against the NPL Midlands newcomers.
Town nearly made a breakthrough on four minutes when Taylor ran onto a Caine Elliott pass to skip past City keeper Haydn Whitcombe, but the striker's ultimate shot was blocked by a defender.
Liam Francis then headed a Trey Charles corner wide and a further threatening cross from Charles was well-taken by Whitcombe, as Rugby's early promise continued - with Harrison Nee also firing one off-target after he had cut in from the left hand side.
At the other end, Damien Osoimoejiokhian did block a strike from Zach Guinan, before Chris Clements pulled one wide of the target after Taylor and Elliott had combined well to set him up.
Charlie Wise headed Liam Lockett's corner wide, and Lockett himself stooped to head one against the post, as the visitors enjoyed their best spell of the first half, with Miles's acrobatic effort cleared away from the goalmouth by Francis and Kyle Belmonte's long ranger comfortably gathered by Paul Hathaway.
Elliott again assumed the role of provider when he played in Nee, but his control was too heavy and Whitcombe was able to smother his effort - with Taylor unable to get on the end of the loose ball.
Taylor's strength and persistence on the edge of the box then set-up Ayo Lekuti for a shot, but this was blocked away.
Hathaway palmed away an angled strike from Guinan, and Jordan Lymn's decent run to the byline ended with a chipped cross that was just to high for his team-mates, before Rugby made the breakthrough in the final knockings of the period when Francis headed home Lekuti's looping cross.
Taylor could have doubled the lead not long after the restart when he again showed good determination to fashion a chance in the box, but his low attempt was saved at the near post by Whitcombe.
That miss was the precursor to an amazing spell from Worcester, which started on 49 minutes when Belmonte curled in from 20+ yards after Guinan had laid the ball back to him.
It was two a minute later, when the unmarked Felix Miles finished off Taylor Townsend's low cross from the right, and then three on 53 minutes thanks to another quick break on the same side of the pitch which saw Guinan execute a neat near-post conversion to Lymn's delivery.
The wheels then well and truly came off the Valley back-line, with Hathaway's poor clearance punished by Guinan - who ran through unchallenged to score, and Miles gleefully capitalised on Francis's weak back-pass to round Hathaway and score into an empty net.
In the middle of the City blitz, Nee had had an on-target shot blocked by Lymn, after good work from both Ryan Sahota and Elliott, and after the fifth goal had gone in, Charles's effort was blocked following a purposeful run from Sahota.
However, the visitors were not content with their weighty lead and they continued to threaten, with Prince Henry hitting the upright for them, before fellow sub Dylan Hart made it six when he headed home a Townsend corner.
Despite the catastrophic scoreline, the hosts did at least continue to plug away in search of some further consolation.
Both Ethan O'Toole and Nee put in threatening crosses, and Nee probably should have scored when he ran through onto Elliott's pass but he saw Whitcombe equal to his effort, although the visitors did nearly make it seven near the end when Belmonte curled a great effort onto the crossbar.
Valley
Line-up: Hathaway; Lekuti, Osoimoejiokhian, Francis, Atcha; Sahota, Clements, Elliott; Charles, Nee, Taylor (O'Toole 74'). Subs not used: Summerfield, Mensah, Arthur, Thomas.
