Joe Batley becomes the latest Worcester player to find a new club

Joe Batley has become the latest Worcester player to find alternative employment, the forward finding a new club just a day after he became a free agent after his Warriors contract was terminated at an insolvency court. Club captain Ted Hill, Ollie Lawrence, Fergus Lee-Warner and Valeriy Morozov had already joined Bath on loan on Monday, and the exodus continued on Wednesday with Duhan van der Merwe re-joining his old club Edinburgh within hours of the liquidation of WRFC Players Ltd, the subsidiary company that held all player and some staff contracts.

Similar to van der Merwe, Batley will also be retracing his old steps as he has been snapped up by Pat Lam’s Bristol, who had a vacancy to fill following the long-term injury picked up last month by lock Sam Jeffries. Batley made appearances for Bristol across three seasons before moving on to Worcester for the post-lockdown restart of the 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership season.

He tweeted: “I’m extremely grateful to Bristol Bears for picking me up. I’m excited to be back in bear country and the challenges that come with it. I feel extremely lucky to continue to fulfil my dreams and aspirations of a professional rugby player. As well as providing for my family.”

A club statement read: “Versatile forward Joe Batley has re-joined Bristol Bears with immediate effect. The 26-year-old, who can play in the second row and back row, returns to Ashton Gate after leaving Worcester Warriors.”

Director of rugby Lam added: “It’s been a challenging time for Joe and his family, but we are pleased to be able to bring him back into a club and system he knows and enjoys. He has grown and developed massively during his time in Worcester, and I know he will add real value to our team going forward.”

It was during his previous spell at Bristol that Batley was diagnosed with cancer in February 2018, an experience he spoke about at length last April to RugbyPass. “We won the Championship and I was like, ‘Okay, I want to kick on again and play in the Prem, that is my dream’. To get cancer then kind of put a whole new twist on everything where rugby was my passion, it was what I loved to do but it wasn’t my everything. It became more about family, about what I wanted to do.

“Luckily I was then able to play Premiership with Bristol and had a small stint with Leicester before getting the shot here at Worcester. I am just finding that I’m enjoying my rugby a lot more now because I have taken the pressure off performing.”