'I'd two or three offers abroad but I've unfinished Prem business'

Steve Diamond believes the eleven months he spent away from rugby after quitting as Sale boss have him primed to be a long-term success at Worcester. Having exited the Sharks in December 2020, the 54-year-old joined the Warriors last November as their lead rugby consultant.

That was just over 26 weeks ago and he has quickly packed a lot in sense. He was given control of the on-field rugby operation just eight weeks after his arrival as head coach Jonathan Thomas exited the club and he become director of rugby for the 2022/23 season onwards once Alan Solomons bows out following this Saturday’s season-ending match at home to Bath.

The Warriors head into that game at the bottom of a league that doesn’t have relegation this season. However, a win should be enough to lift them out of 13th spot (Newcastle’s result is also a factor) and having recently been crowned Premiership Rugby Cup champions, Diamond is pleased with the way things are going at Worcester since his return to the sport after a break for family reasons.

“Most people tend to take a gap year when they finish university or in university when they don’t need one whereas if you have done 20 years coaching like I had, to step out of it and not watch a rugby match for six months is pleasurable,” said Diamond to RugbyPass when asked would he recommend to other club bosses the idea of taking time out to refresh and re-energise.

“If I’m honest, I had two or three offers to go abroad which doesn't suit me at the minute. Those offers might be appealing in five or ten years’ time but I have unfinished business in the Premiership and Worcester will be the vehicle for me to hopefully show my credentials, whether it is recruiting or managing, and the coaches that come with me will have an opportunity to prove that they made the right choice in staying here or coming and joining me.

Diamond is a character with a robust, no-nonsense nature so what was it like walking into Sixways on November 29 to work there for the first time and to begin putting his ideas across? “People have clarity of what they are coming to work to do,” he said about his input across half of the 2021/22 season. “Under previous regimes, not just JT and Alan, there has always been this tendency of the emperor comes in and new clothes come out and stuff and I don’t work like that.

“I work with what I have got and my mindset is very clear, do as I ask you to do in a collaborative way. We all agree the training week, we all agree the way we are going to play as in all the coaches and players, and then we get on with it. You would have to ask the players but I enjoy coming to work and even when we have lost games the beat around the place is positive and most of them will say that.”

Worcester are seen as a club forever stuck in the lower reaches of the Premiership, so how did Diamond sell his vision to targetted new signings that the Warriors would soon be going places and that their 2022/23 ambition is to qualify for the first time to play in the Heineken Champions Cup?

“Well, the challenge was me putting over a vision of where we can go with it quickly and not everybody I targeted agreed. Most people have got something to prove who are coming themselves but I have never had a problem recruiting if I am honest, you just say it as it is and they either believe in you or they don’t.

“They only have to come to Worcester which none of them needed to because they believe what I was telling them would happen and it will happen. The facilities at Worcester are second to none training wise as well as playing. And it’s just a case of actions speaking louder than words really so we will see where we go with it.”