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Worcester Warriors’ return to professional rugby has been a whirlwind since it was confirmed in April that they would be back in the CHAMP this season. Players have been signed, coaching and commercial teams have been built from scratch, and Sixways dusted down as the club gears up for its competitive return this Saturday at home to Coventry.
Their last competitive match was against the then Newcastle Falcons in the then Premiership in September 2022. Then came down the downfall as the club were suspended from all competitions over unpaid tax of about £6million. Players and staff had their contracts terminated, and the club was effectively mothballed.
“It is really exciting,” head coach Mat Everard told ATR. “The players have worked really hard on the field and also got to know each other and make those bonds after only meeting for the first time a few weeks ago. It is really exciting and I’m really proud of the efforts the players have put in this pre-season.
“It has been a challenge, but a really good challenge, and quite unique. I’m a coach who runs around a pitch in shorts and with a whistle, and I had to pull together a playing and a management group in a pretty short space of time, but I’ve loved it, and everyone has been very supportive.”
SEASON TICKETS - GONE
A consortium led by Chris Holland and Stephen Vaughan took the club out of administration, with a binding agreement to pay all their creditors. Their return has been lapped up in a city where they are the leading team, with about 5,000 season tickets sold out.
Their return hasn’t been universally celebrated though. Firstly, not all the creditors have been paid, though in fairness Holland and Vaughan have been very open with their public statements and haven’t shy away from tough questions, so when they say the process is in train and taking longer than anticipated, then they have earned the benefit of the doubt.
The other is from a sporting perspective. After all, when Richmond, London Welsh, and London Scottish went out of business, they had to work their way up from the bottom rung and there are many who feel Worcester should have done the same.
From the CHAMP perspective, you can see why they have been allowed to jump the queue. This is a team with a Gallagher PREM set up, so if promotion is on the table there is one team that has the required infrastructure to go up. It comes with the added bonus of allowing the top division to tick off the West Midlands as an region with a PREM team, with a PREM following.
“Worcester is always seen as a rugby city, and I feel it, they are so well supported,” Everard said. “The first fans’ forum we had at Sixways had 600 people and it was emotional. That has grown to nearly 9,000 people for the Bath match on a Friday night.
“The playing group has spent a lot of time at fans forums and at open training sessions and those open training sessions have been more powerful for the players than the fans because they can really feel what Worcester means to people who had something taken away and then brought back again.”
YOUTH AND EXPERIENCE
Ultimately, it will be on the pitch that Warriors are judged. Since their readmittance Everard – a former Leicester Tigers and Wasps flanker - has been mixing life on the coaching pitch with life as a recruiter.
Ex-England centre Billy Twelvetrees and Wales scrumhalf Lloyd Williams bring international experience, as well as knowledge of life in the CHAMP, while back rower Matt Kvesic and winger Josh Bassett are proven PREM players, who started off their careers at Six Ways.
“I’ve known Billy since I was 16 and we played together at Leicester Tigers,” Everard said. “Kev (Kvesic) too. We played age-group rugby together and he is a top-quality person and a top-quality player. Lloyd is very calm and very experienced, and has played a very high level of rugby, and he’s still doing that in training.
“The younger players bring the enthusiasm and bounce, and I’m really pleased with the blend.”
Worcester have already shown what they can offer by competing hard against Bath in preseason before they slipped to a 33-19 defeat. What stood out most was the 9,000 fans for the Friday night fixture.
While their name and history appear to make Worcester favourites to claim the CHAMP title, it won’t be a simple task. Ealing Trailfinders will want to defend their title and there will be plenty of clubs hoping to make their mark, which means Everard is aware of the need to keep expectations in check.
“It would be irresponsible of me to say we’re going to do this in year one,” he said. “We want to get tight, care about each other, and get cohesive. There’s no pressure on the players.
“We only met a few weeks ago. I want them to go out, and express the best versions of themselves, show a load of effort and be hard to beat.”