Crisis club Worcester names team for its Premiership London opener
Worcester have named the match day 23 for its opening game of the 2022/23 Gallagher Premiership season, a fixture at London Irish that few people thought they would be in a position to fulfil due to the cash crisis that has hit the up-for-sale club. The Warriors have been hit by sweeping negative headlines ever since it first emerged last month that HMRC had issued a winding-up petition for an unpaid tax bill.
Assurances were given that players and staff would receive their end-of-August wages despite a cancelled pre-season friendly in Scotland, while Premiership Rugby officially confirmed at its September 1 new season launch at Twickenham that it would indeed start as a 13-team league.
However, even then there was no certainty the opener at Brentford would go ahead. Worcester players and staff took to social media the day after the function at English Rugby HQ to stress that they still hadn’t been paid and one player, academy scrum-half Ollie Wynn, revealed he had been made homeless and was relying on the generous Ollie Lawrence for a bed and a roof over his head.
The anxiety over Worcester continued on in recent days amid public arguments between local politicians and the co-owners Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham who are now looking to sell the rugby club, the same decision they have taken with their English League football club in Morecambe.
When push came to shove and it was time at noon on Friday to name the team to play at London Irish, a decision still hadn’t been reached by Premiership Rugby that the matches across the opening weekend would be going ahead following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
It was 12.48pm when Premiership Rugby provided an update that all three games originally scheduled for Saturday would go ahead as planned and it was a few hours later when the league’s governing body forwarded the Worcester XV and replacements on to the various media organisation.
The press release read: “Worcester will give starts to four of their summer signings in Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership match against London Irish at the Gtech Community Stadium (kick-off 3pm).
“Openside flanker Cameron Neild, who has arrived at Sixways from Sale Sharks, will have the honouring of captaining the side on his Warriors debut as club captain Ted Hill has been ruled out by a hamstring injury.
“Russia international loosehead Valeriy Morozov and Italy hooker Hame Faiva, who have arrived from Bath Rugby and Benetton Rugby respectively, will pack down in the front row with Fergus Lee-Warner, who has joined from Western Force, making his Premiership debut at blindside flanker.
“A fifth new signing, England and former Sale Sharks loosehead prop Curtis Langdon, has been named among the replacements. Billy Searle will start at fly-half in place of Fin Smith who suffered a broken jaw in a tackle in training, and Scotland and British Lions wing Duhan van der Merwe misses out because of a quadriceps injury.
“Six members of Saturday’s side – Jamie Shillcock, Perry Humphreys, Francois Venter, Gareth Simpson, Joe Batley and Matt Kvesic – also started in the Premiership Rugby Cup final against London Irish in May on Warriors’ last visit to Brentford.
“Six more members of the matchday squad – Ollie Lawrence, Alex Hearle, Murray McCallum, Andrew Kitchener, Rory Sutherland and Will Chudley – came off the bench in the final.”
WORCESTER (vs London Irish, Saturday): 15. Jamie Shillcock; 14. Perry Humphreys, 13. Ollie Lawrence, 12. Francois Venter, 11. Alex Hearle; 10. Billy Searle, 9. Gareth Simpson; 1. Valeriy Morozov, 2. Hame Faiva, 3. Murray McCallum, 4. Joe Batley, 5. Andrew Kitchener, 6. Fergus Lee-Warner, 7. Cameron Neild (capt), 8 Matt Kvesic. Reps: 16. Curtis Langdon, 17. Rory Sutherland, 18. Jay Tyack, 19. Graham Kitchener, 20. Tom Dodd, 21. Will Chudley, 22. Owen Williams, 23. Noah Steward.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments