'When I told my kids I was retiring, three of the four cried': Billy Twelvetrees

Billy Twelvetrees is naturally a positive person, the sort that helps to keep the spirits up of his long-time friend Ed Slater while he battles with MND.

Twelvetrees and prop Fraser Balmain have been a rock of support to the former England second-row, who received his devastating diagnosis in 2022.

All three played together at Leicester and then Gloucester, but while Slater’s career came to a sad end at Kingsholm, Twelvetrees and Balmain are still teammates on the rugby pitch, having signed up to be a part of Worcester’s rebirth.

It didn’t take much for Warriors head coach Matt Everard to sell the project to Twelvetrees, who was coaching at Hartpury at the time the call came, but it wasn’t until he’d had a heartfelt conversation with his good mate Ed that he said yes.

“That was the biggest motivation about this. When I asked Ed, what do you think about this as a life choice and he said, ‘mate, why would you not play? I am stuck in a wheelchair. We’re the same age; I would love to be out there, so just do it because you’ll be retired soon enough’. I was like, ‘Okay, let’s do it.’

Twelvetrees announced he’d retired from playing at the end of the 2023/24 season, after a short spell with Ealing. It followed a decorated career at the top, which included 22 caps at centre for England, a Premiership winner’s medal with Leicester, a stunning season as top points scorer in the Champ with Bedford, and over 350 first-class appearances all told, primarily at Gloucester.

Upon calling it a day, the 35-year-old transitioned into coaching, securing a role at Hartpury College as backs and attack coach for the 2024/25 season.

Twelvetrees has since signed for Worcester as a player-coach, and his four kids are delighted he’ll be lacing up his boots again.

“When I told my kids I was retiring, three of the four cried. Maybe they thought I would lose my powers as a dad,” he joked.

“I was like, ‘no, no, don’t worry’. When I told them I was playing again, they were super happy, so I have got some good motivators to play again.

“I was really enjoying coaching at Hartpury and Gloucester. Don’t get me wrong, rugby hurts at my age, so I was thinking, do I need to do that again? But I do love it, and the coaching side here really intrigues me.”

Head coach Matt Everard has said he will rotate his squad as much as possible, and given his age, Twelvetrees is likely to be given plenty of time to recover.

Twelvetrees also points to the glut of good young centres at the club, spearheaded by former Gloucester team-mate, Tom Seabrook.

“I will be keen to play as much as Matt wants me to. We have some really, really good centres – Rory Taylor, James Short, who’s just been released from Bath and has a huge amount of energy, Tom Seabrook, who was at Saints and then Gloucester with me, and Chris Preen, who we picked up from the BUCS League.

“I’d happily sit on the sidelines and do what I can to help these players push on. But if Matt needs me to chuck my boots on, it’s still the same me; I’m still very competitive.”

Twelvetrees’ love of rugby and life in general shines through when you talk to him, and while he admits it’ll be amazing to run out in front of packed houses at Sixways, he’s happy as long as he’s got a ball in his hands.

“I just love the game. I have been very lucky to play at the top level – international, then the Prem and Europe – but I don’t care where I play; I could play down the park with a load of kids and still have the same energy.

“I’ve never been about the crowds and all that. Don’t get me wrong, it is amazing but it has never been my driver. During Covid, people struggled with having no supporters, but I just didn’t mind, I was just the same.

“Playing at Sixways is awesome; it is a great stadium. And then we could go to Hartpury a week later, and having coached there, I know what it will be like. Or it could be Caldy or London Scottish, and it’ll be cool. That’s what rugby is all about – you have got different environments that really challenge you.”

Worcester’s first challenge is Saturday’s Midlands derby at home to Coventry. For those who were not fortunate enough to get a ticket for the 9,000 sell-out, the match can be watched live and for free on Clubber TV, the Irish streaming company that’s secured the broadcast rights for Champ Rugby for the next three years.

While Twelvetrees has been blown away by the passion of the Worcester fans and their delight at seeing rugby return to Sixways, he is aware that not everyone in rugby is as positive.

Putting Worcester straight back into the second tier of English rugby, rather than at the bottom of the pyramid, has led to criticism of the RFU.

And the Warriors’ failure to settle up all its rugby creditors’ debts before the season’s start has also led to accusations that it is one rule for them and one rule for others.

Opposing teams will have extra fire in their bellies wanting to knock Worcester down a peg or two, and Twelvetrees understands that.

“Everyone will come to Sixways and play their final against us, and then when we go to their home grounds, again it’ll be their final,” he said.

“We’ll have to be aware of what it means to other teams to have Worcester back.

“People have been scarred by it financially and emotionally, and I completely understand that.

“One of my personal views of life is you’re only good as your next move, and what is done is done. I always try and find solutions, and this solution for Worcester is to establish a rugby team.

“It has created such positive energy with people going, I can’t wait to watch rugby at Sixways again, and people talking about the Champ, and going to the playoffs at the end of the year. Who’s it going to be – Doncaster, Coventry? Are Worcester going to go up? And having Clubber TV involved is cool.

“Speaking to fans, I was asking them where they’d been watching their rugby, had they been to Bath, Gloucester, etc., and they were like, ‘No, we haven’t, we haven’t watched any rugby for three years, we’ve just been hoping and hoping. We can’t wait to see the team run out at Sixways. That’s how much they love it. It means so much to people.”