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Worcester sign England scrum-half Willi Heinz
By Liam Heagney
Ambitious Worcester have made their latest statement of intent, signing England scrum-half Willi Heinz from Gloucester for the 2021/22 season. The 34-year-old has won 13 Test caps since his August 2019 debut. “As we have said publicly since we have come in as coaches, recruitment and retention are really important,” said Warriors head coach Jonathan Thomas.
“The impact of COVID-19 means that the salary cap is being reduced so you have to be smarter than ever with your recruitment. We are looking for cultural architects, people who can add value as a player first and foremost but also to the environment here at Sixways and helping the development of our young, homegrown players.
“Willi is a really valuable addition to our squad. He is an international player - and has been recently - which is a huge thing for the club. Willi has an outstanding reputation from cultural and leadership aspects. He has experienced rugby in different parts of the world, he’s a huge addition to the club and I’m thrilled that he is joining us.”
Heinz made his name with the Crusaders in New Zealand before joining Gloucester in 2015 and he now joins Scotland winger Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh), tighthead props Jack Owlett (Wasps) and Christian Judge (Bath) and fellow scrum-half Will Chudley (Bath) as new Worcester additions for next season.
“After speaking with Alan Solomons, Jonathan and all the coaches I'm delighted to be joining Worcester at an exciting time in the club’s history,” said Heinz. “They have a very clear vision of where they want to take the club. I still feel like I have a lot to give in my career and want to be part of what is an exciting journey the club is embarking on.
"I have really enjoyed my six seasons at Gloucester, an iconic club in English rugby. I still am entirely committed to the team until the end of the season and hope that before it ends, we can run out in front of fans at Kingsholm once more."
Gloucester boss George Skivington added: "Willi has been a great player for the club and although he has not played as much as he would like to have done during my time here, he is the consummate professional and we know that he will be committed to end his time at Kingsholm on a high.
"We respect his decision to leave for pastures new and when the times comes we will wish him all the best for his new challenge. We’re fortunate in having several exciting young scrum halves in the squad and we’re sure they’ll play a big part in our success in coming seasons."
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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