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As many as a quarter of Worcester's squad could leave rugby
By Ian Cameron
As many as a quarter of the Worcester Warriors squad could end up leaving rugby as the beleaguered side go through the process of administration which could ultimately see the side no longer exist.
Worcester have been relegated from the Gallagher Premiership and suspended from the Premiership Rugby Cup for the remainder of the 2022-23 season.
The Warriors’ Premiership future had been left in doubt after the club was partially liquidated on Wednesday, with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) pursuing unpaid tax in the region of £6 million.
Wednesday’s ruling instructed that WRFC Players Ltd, a subsidiary of WRFC Trading Ltd through which players and some staff are paid, be wound up. A winding-up petition against WRFC Trading Ltd, which remains in administration, has been suspended.
Club captain Ted Hill, Ollie Lawrence, Fergus Lee-Warner and Valeriy Morozov had already joined Bath on loan.
Speaking to RugbyPass on The Offload Podcast, England centre Lawrence says as many as a quarter of the squad could end up leaving professional rugby altogether.
"There'll be a quarter of the squad now that will consider either A: Stopping playing rugby and finding other jobs, or B) retiring. There'll be another fraction of the squad who will drop down to the Championship or try and find a club and maybe get their salary halved.
"The boys that are in those brackets of £50 to £100k, once their salary gets halved, once you start getting bills coming out, you have mortgages and savings, that gets stripped down and suddenly you're leaving to your means. Then you get stripped half again and you've got to re-mortgage your house and you've got to move to a new city. It's just crazy times and it's one we never expected to happen.
"I don't think anyone saw this coming. Now going into administration, we don't know the consequences even if did mange to get someone come out of the woodwork and buy the club and everything be sorted. The PRL and RFU Premiership relegation would terminate quite a lot of the players contracts in itself, if they wanted to."
Lawrence had a word for teammate Joe Batley, who has been quite vocal over the last few weeks.
"He came from Bristol and came and gave his everything. He now has a young son and a family here that he obviously has tried to build on. Now that's been taken away from him and that has now effected his kid's future. You can obviously understand the frustration and the anger from a lot of boys, but there isn't much we can do now. That's the unfortunate thing. We talked about player power but there isn't much we can do."
additional reporting PA
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Hi Nick. Thanks for your +++ ongoing analysis. Re Vunivalu, He’s been benched recently and it will be interesting to see what Kiss does with him as we enter the backend of SRP. I’m still not sold.
Go to commentsIn the fine tradition of Irish rugby, Leinster cheat well and for some reason only known to whoever referees them, they are allowed to get away with it every single game. If teams have not got the physicality up front to stop them getting the ball, they will win every single game. They take out players beyond the ruck and often hold them on the ground. Those that are beyond the ruck and therefore offside, hover there to cause distraction but also to join the next ruck from the side thereby stopping the jackal. The lineout prior to the second try on Saturday. 3 Leinster players left the lineout before the ball was thrown and were driving the maul as soon as the player hit the ground and thereby getting that valuable momentum. They scrummage illegally, with the looshead turning in to stop the opposing tighthead from pushing straight and making it uncomfortable for the hooker. The tighthead takes a step and tries to get his opposite loosehead to drop the bind. Flankers often ‘move up’ and actually bind on the prop and not remain bound to the second row. It does cause chaos and is done quickly and efficiently so that referees are blinded by the illegal tactics. I am surprised opposition coaches when they meet referees before games don’t mention it. I am also surprised that they do not go to the referees group and ask them to look at the tactics used and referee them properly. If they are the better team and win, fair play but a lot of their momentum is gained illegally and therefore it is not a level playing field.
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