'Just hugged him': Worcester respond to 'Ashton wants out' rumour
Worcester boss Jonathan Thomas has dismissed speculation that ex-England winger Chris Ashton is unhappy at the club and is looking to leave the Gallagher Premiership outfit who celebrated their first on-field league win last Saturday since last November. The 34-year-old joined the Warriors last January from Harlequins but injury has meant he has only made four appearances so far.
Ashton was unavailable for last weekend’s season-opening victory over London Irish at Sixways and it was speculated on the latest episode of The Rugby Pod that he is looking to leave, speculation quickly shot down by an exasperated Thomas who claimed he had just hugged the veteran on the training ground on Tuesday after he came through his first proper session in a while.
It was during a reflection on the rare Worcester Premiership when Rugby Pod co-host Jim Hamilton asked Andy Goode where Ashton was, a query that promoted an eye-raising response. “Rumour has it, I have heard on the grapevine he [Ashton] ain’t happy, Worcester ain’t happy with him, he is going to be leaving there soon,” claimed Goode. “I genuinely have heard that.”
The allegation was soon put to Thomas at his weekly Worcester media briefing and he dismissed what was said on the show. “Who was it with the rumour? Andy Goode, I’ll have to give him a call after this,” quipped the rookie Warriors head coach. “Goodey likes to say ‘I’ve heard’ or ‘I have got a source’, he likes that one. He can just give me a call, he has got my number, he can call and ask me. He hasn’t done that. I have just hugged him [Ashton] on the training field, so what do you think?”
It was with the Barbarians where ex-Wales back-rower Thomas first got to know Ashton, who is contracted at Worcester through to the end of the 2021/22 season, and while his time at the Warriors has been frustrating, the coach is expecting great things soon from the former Premiership title winner.
This week we’ve got @FreddieBurns on the show to catch up on life back home in Leicester ?
Hear the debrief after @AndyRoweOnline’s eventful Ibiza Stag… ?
Listen HERE: https://t.co/826uGWwJdd
W/ @goodey10 & @jimhamilton4 pic.twitter.com/nFpRzFAnwe
— The Rugby Pod (@TheRugbyPod) September 21, 2021
“Ashy trained today [Tuesday], first proper session. I gave him a hug after the session because it has been really tough for him. Since he has come to the club he has had calf issues, knee issues. He is a champion player who is very, very competitive and it has been really frustrating for him that he hasn’t been able to get out on the field. What makes him happy is training hard and playing and scoring tries so he hasn’t been able to do that, but he took part in the session there today and he had a really good contribution.
“He will not be available for selection this weekend (at Harlequins) and Gloucester is probably too soon. It’s almost like a player that has come back from a long-term injury. What Chris has to do now, we have to increase his load, build his capacity and we are hopeful he will be fit and available to play in a couple of weeks’ time. It’s the first time we have seen him going hard, running hard in quite a while, so really pleased that he is up and running.”
Hamilton, an ex-Saracens teammate of Ashton, had joked with Goode on The Rugby Pod that he was happy things weren’t working at Worcester for his former colleague. “Ashy used to come in every single day and call me horrible names, say I used to look like a bag of sick when I was sat there with my achilles was torn, my rib broke, my fingers pointing in a different direction and I couldn’t breathe out my nose because it was broken in three different places – so he bloody deserves it.”
“The relationships didn’t connect as much… sometimes personalities don’t match, faces didn’t fit"
– England's Chris Ashton has fronted the media – including @heagneyl ??? – just 2?? days after joining Worcester from Harlequins #GallagherPremhttps://t.co/oW3OwnwWf6
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 26, 2021
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