Kvesic sold on prospect of re-joining mentor Matt
MATT Kvesic says being reunited with the man who kick-started his rugby career is one of the driving forces behind his imminent return to Worcester.
After a seven-year odyssey with Gloucester and Exeter, earning sporadic caps for England along the way, back rower Kvesic is going back to his roots at Sixways, where he links-up once again with former Warriors academy coach and mentor, Matt Sherratt, below. Kvesic, 28, told The
Rugby Paper: “Matt was the bloke who found me as a 14year-old and he’s probably the one I owe everything to in terms of my career.
“My dad was in the Army and when I went on a three-day rugby camp in Warminster at the age of 14 back in 2006, jointly run by Worcester, Gloucester and the Army, it was Matt who invited me to Worcester and I haven’t looked back since then.
“He’s subsequently worked for Bristol, Cardiff and Wales and has most recently been with the Ospreys, but being able to work with him again is a big selling point for me.
“I spoke to him before I signed for Worcester so it will be great to have him as our attack coach, and I’m also looking forward to working with Jonathan Thomas.
“Although I’ve never crossed paths or been coached by ‘JT,’ friends of mine have been speak really highly of his influence at Bristol. To know both these guys were going to go to Worcester to help head up the coaching was really good to know.”
Having reached successive Premiership finals with Exeter, Kvesic returns to Worcester as a vastly experienced player with 151 topflight appearances.
He added: “I’ve had a few ups and downs
along the way, but last season was probably the best of my career and I’m going back to Worcester a better player.
“It was disappointing not to have won last year’s Premiership final against Saracens but being part of that side gave me the platform to get into England’s World Cup training squad.
“I still think there’s a lot to learn for me as a player and I’ve got to get my head down at Worcester and work really hard, but hopefully there’s an opportunity to build something special at what is effectively my home town club over the next couple of years.
“Worcester have got everything they need in terms of facilities to be a top side, so with new coaches like Matt and JT, some new signings and a good batch of young players coming through, we’ll aim to finish this season well and use it as a springboard.”
With refereeing interpretations around the speed of ball presentation at the breakdown set to change, Kvesic added: “That’s probably a good thing for me because the breakdown is a strength.
“I’m not sure you can take too much from what we saw in two games in New Zealand last week, but we’ll definitely need to adapt around how we enter and exit contact and it will be interesting to see what our refs say as we get closer to restarting.”