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'Awesome character': The new recruits impressing most at Worcester
No other club could match the off-season upheaval at Worcester when Premiership Rugby published its comprehensive list of all the player ins and outs at the 13 clubs ahead of the new league season that began in England last weekend. A deep breath was needed counting up all the comings and goings at the Warriors, 21 players ushered out through the exit door at Sixways and 18 others arriving in through the entrance.
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It must have made for a headache on the training ground initially, everyone trying to remember all the new names, but it also surely made for a different type of vibe enveloping the club compared to the mood that existed throughout a miserable campaign last season.
Worcester finished bottom of the pile with just a single on-pitch win to their credit in the matches that did get played, but they are now heading to Harlequins, the home of the defending Premiership champions, this Saturday with a fresh pep in their step thanks to the enthusiasm of all the new personnel and the consequences of last weekend’s confidence-building home win over London Irish.
It was last January when Jonathan Thomas was promoted to head coach at the club, having arrived in the previous summer as an assistant from Bristol, but the team he inherited has now been overhauled by all the many new faces. Put the Worcester boss on the spot as to who has been standing out so far and a particular signing from Wasps – a 26-year-old Tongan international back-rower – was the recipient of some attention-grabbing kudos.
“First and foremost, all of the new signings, staff and players, have brought really good energy into the club, they really have,” chirped Thomas when asked by RugbyPass what his early impressions are of the new group he has assembled at Worcester for the club’s latest Premiership campaign.
“I genuinely have heard that…”
– Speculation on this week's @TheRugbyPod about Chris Ashton led to a lively response from Worcester boss Jonathan Thomas at his club's weekly media briefing #Worcesterhttps://t.co/h7Ypbpvw9X
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 21, 2021
“Really diverse players. You have got someone like Sione Vailanu who has just been an awesome character since coming in from Wasps. Just a really good guy, good energy, good humour – trains bloody well as well. I hate singling out players because they have all added value. Like, Willie Heinz has got huge experience but he is also really selfless and has a good mindset for growing other players, especially our younger players.
“He has been brilliant in and around there, as has (Will) Chudley, Owen Williams, Scott Baldwin. When I spoke to you [RugbyPass] last season, that was the intention around bringing in these players. We have got a lot of young players – Ted (Hill), Ollie Lawrence – guys who are at a young age and are leaders themselves, but those guys who we have brought in have been real mentors and have brought really good value on and off the field.”
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Last Saturday’s 36-24 win over London Irish was a tonic for the new broom, but especially for Thomas as he had been without an on-pitch victory since taking on the head coach role in early January. After so many defeats in 2021, he would have been entitled to revel in the moment but exuberant celebrations aren’t his style.
“Unfortunately with my personality, I was just thinking about Quins straightaway. That is the challenge of being a coach, do you turn your attention straightaway to the next week? I did have a beer or two with the coaches but I was looking forward to the Quins game. No one in the club is getting carried away from winning one game. It’s just a win and it doesn’t mean anything in terms of we have got a lot of hard work to do to be the team that we want to be.
“Momentum is such a huge thing, confidence is such a huge thing and the players are human beings – they have emotions the same as anybody else. We have talked a lot about it. Sometimes it is the elephant in the room you don’t talk about. We have talked about how we’re feeling, the anxiety around the game, how we are going to manage our thoughts in the big moments.
“We have done a lot of work with a sport psych on those things as well around our breathing in games which is not unique, a few other teams are using that as well. We come at it from a coaching point of view but then there is a lot of different aspects you need help with. The mind is as important as anything and we have done a lot of work on that.”
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Warriors' potential England stars were one of the 3️⃣ reasons why Scott Baldwin was tempted to leave Premiership champions Harlequins for Worcester 🏋️#England #Worcester #HARvWORhttps://t.co/k2T1RrSyjf
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 24, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
The rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
76 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to comments