WORCESTER
Head of Rugby: Alan Solomons
Captain: Ted Hill
Ground: Sixways Stadium
Capacity: 11,499
On the one hand, they cannot go any lower after finding themselves marooned at the bottom last season when, with relegation not an issue, the Warriors looked to the future and blooded young players. Failure spawns change and they have been the club most popular with agents this year: 20 players have left and 11 have been drafted in, including two Lions, Duhan van der Merwe and Rory Sutherland, and four internationals, Owen Williams, Scott Baldwin, Willi Heinz and Sione Vailanu. Worcester look considerably stronger on paper than last season, but with changes in the management as well, it will be a question of how quickly the gel sets in an unforgiving league.
Worcester have been successful at academy level and the likes of Ollie Lawrence, Ted Hill, Oli Morris and Noah Heward will not hang around for long if the club’s failure to ever make the top half of the Premiership looks like persisting. The current motto at Sixways is time for change, a reference to the greener policies being pursued off the field as well as their playing fortunes. Head coach Jonathan Thomas, who took over at the start of the year, is ambitious, but what the season, which starts as it did a year ago with the visit of London Irish – the only occasion when the Warriors won – should be about is gradual improvement. No other club has made so many changes, but they do have a foundation: Exeter, Bristol and Sale were all relieved to escape from Sixways with a victory. They need to do better against the sides around them.