| Full name | Worcester Rugby Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1871 | ||
| Location | Worcester, England | ||
| Ground(s) | Sixways Stadium (Capacity: 12,068[1]) | ||
| Chairman | Cecil Duckworth OBE[2] | ||
| Coach(es) | Richard Hill | ||
| Captain(s) | Chris Pennell | ||
| Most caps | Craig Gillies (254+) | ||
| Top scorer | Shane Drahm (726) | ||
| Most tries | Nick Baxter (88)[3] | ||
| League(s) | The Premiership | ||
| 2010–11 | 1st, Champions (promoted) | ||
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| Official website | |||
| www.warriors.co.uk | |||
The Worcester Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club; the first team use the nickname Warriors. The club's first team will play the 2011–12 season in the Premiership, after being promoted from the RFU Championship. They have also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, European Rugby Cup, British and Irish Cup and Aviva A League competitions. The club's kit is made by sports manufacturer Cotton Traders and they are sponsored by Worcester Bosch and Fragrance Mad.[4] Their home stadium is the Sixways Stadium, and the team colours are blue and gold. Their nearest premiership rivals are Gloucester rugby club.
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The club was founded in 1871 by the Reverend Francis John Ede, with the first known game played against the Artillery on 8 November 1871. The club began playing at Bevere in Worcester in 1954 and left Bevere for Sixways in 1975 when the clubhouse was opened. When the league system was formed, the club was placed in North Midlands Division One, a level eight league.
Due to extensive support from their backer Cecil Duckworth, the club were able to build a strong team, with promotion after promotion following. In 2006, extremely ambitious plans were announced for a £23 million development programme, which would see a health club with fitness centre and swimming pool, fully tarmaced park and ride area, and expanded capacity, estimated to be 13,000.
Worcester Warriors were promoted to the (then Zurich) Premiership after winning National Division One in 2003–2004 with a perfect record of 26 wins from 26 games, something that had never before been achieved. They were the bookies', and many of the rugby pundits' odds-on-favourites to go straight back down but defied the odds to stay in the Premiership for another season, finishing ninth in the league, after wins against teams including Harlequins, Leeds, a historic victory against Premiership Champions London Wasps and Northampton in a 'winner takes all' end of season finale, which they won 21–19. This match was shown live with more twists and turns off the pitch as well as on it, with then Northampton player, Shane Drahm, who had signed for Worcester eventually starting, and successfully kicking almost everything, after press releases by Northampton stating that he would be a substitute. In the 2004–2005 season, despite Premiership survival being their ultimate aim, they reached the final of the defunct European Shield at Oxford's Kassam Stadium, after beating Leeds Tykes in the semi-final. They eventually lost out to the French side Auch. They also managed to achieve a play-off match for the Heineken Cup against Saracens, but their long fight for Premiership survival and an injury-ravaged squad meant that they lost. Their achievements for that season meant that they had achieved much more than they had originally hoped for, as well as earning the respect of the other Premiership sides in the process.
In the 2005–2006 season, they reached the quarter–finals of the European Challenge Cup after finishing top of their pool with five wins out of a possible six, above Connacht, Montpellier Herault and Amatori Catania, and faced an away match against Northampton Saints on April Fool's Day, which they won, in what was described by sports writers as some of the best rugby they have played all season. They reached the semi – finals where they faced Gloucester Rugby in a local derby showdown, with it being the third time they had played Gloucester that season, with the European match being played the week after the Premiership match at Kingsholm. Despite playing some thrilling rugby, and looking much more solid as a team than the previous week's Premiership performance, they were knocked out of the competition. The European Challenge Cup was then a much more important competition to Worcester as it offered them a route into the Heineken Cup. In the 2005-06 Guinness Premiership, they avoided relegation and were safe much earlier in the season, which meant that they avoided a repeat of last years relegation battle on the last day of the season. The season culminated in an eighth place finish in the league on 47 points, one place higher than 2004–2005, with the same amount of wins (9) but more bonus points and a draw, missing 7th position due to Newcastle Falcons having a better points difference, secured on the last day of the season. This was a huge achievement considering that this is still only their second season in rugby's top flight.
In the 2006–07 season Worcester didn't get off to a very good start and for the majority of the season they were positioned in 12th place, but a good run of form which involved beating some of the top sides in the Premiership, helping them to avoid relegation and send the former Heineken Cup champions Northampton Saints down into National Division One.
For the 2007–08 season Worcester had brought in several big name players, the most well know being the All Black Rico Gear. But they again didn't start off very well in the Premiership and did not record their first victory until after Christmas. While they were struggling in the premiership they were enjoying good success in the European Challenge Cup (ECC), progressing through the group stages. After Christmas their premiership formed picked up and they beat top teams such as Leicester Tigers and Sale Sharks, which subsequently saw them move out of the relegation zone, Leeds Carnegie replacing them. They progressed even further in the ECC and beat off Montpellier Hérault RC in the quarter-final and saw off Newcastle Falcons in the semi-final which set up a final against Bath. Leeds Carnegie could not survive relegation and were relegated well before the end of the season. The final against Bath resulted in a 24–16 defeat in a one-sided game.[5]
In 2008 Worcester pulled off one of their largest signings ever by signing Australian international Chris Latham from the Queensland Reds, for the 2008–09 season on a 3 year deal.[6] He is regarded as the greatest Reds player as well as the best Wallabies fullback. The season again didn't go the way planned but Worcester still progressed in the ECC and pulled off a home and away victories over local rivals Gloucester and London Wasps in the league. However the season ended disappointingly (after Worcester suffered a succession of serious injuries), losing in the semi-final of the European Challenge Cup to Bourgoin.
After the disappointment of the 2008-09 Guinness Premiership season, the Warriors made a bright start to the 2009-10 Guinness Premiership season. Either side of a loss to Wasps, they had convincing wins over newly promoted Leeds Carnegie and over Sale Sharks, only their second home win over Sale since they joined the top flight in 2004–2005, which was then followed by an unlucky loss at champions Leicester Tigers. A poor spell followed with 10 games without a win. During the winless spell, the club did become the first Premiership team to draw four games in a season and the first team to draw three successive league games. Following this bad spell, the Warriors secured a much needed 13–0 victory over Newcastle at Sixways, before another six consecutive losses. On 25 April, the Warriors were relegated from the Premiership after a 12–10 loss away to Leeds Carnegie, their first relegation in 22 years. They played the 2010–11 season in the Championship with Richard Hill announced as the new Head Coach, on a 2-year contract and Chris Pennell was announced as the new captain.
The 2010-11 season saw Worcester win 30 out of 31 games in the Championship, losing the only game to the Cornish Pirates in the main season at Sixways. Worcester were top of the league and top of their stage 2 group. After winning the play-off against Bedford Blues at Sixways and the both legs of the play-off final, Worcester secured promotion to the Premiership for the 2011-12 season.[7] Before the season began, there were local news reports that Worcester Warriors aimed to build a Hilton Hotel on the Sixways site, whilst also building a health and leisure facilty and potentially expanding the North Stand.[8]
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| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Tries For | Tries Against | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harlequins | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 317 | 195 | +122 | 34 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 47 | ||||
| 2 | Saracens | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 252 | 189 | +63 | 19 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 40 | ||||
| 3 | Northampton Saints | 12 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 286 | 201 | +85 | 28 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 32 | ||||
| 4 | Leicester Tigers | 12 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 319 | 306 | +13 | 33 | 32 | 3 | 3 | 32 | ||||
| 5 | Sale Sharks | 12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 266 | 291 | -25 | 25 | 27 | 1 | 4 | 29 | ||||
| 6 | London Irish | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 285 | 279 | +6 | 23 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 29 | ||||
| 7 | Gloucester Rugby | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 260 | 233 | +27 | 24 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 28 | ||||
| 8 | Exeter Chiefs | 12 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 226 | 242 | -16 | 18 | 22 | 1 | 6 | 27 | ||||
| 9 | Bath Rugby | 12 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 216 | 226 | -10 | 18 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 23 | ||||
| 10 | Worcester Warriors | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 154 | 205 | -51 | 9 | 18 | 0 | 3 | 21 | ||||
| 11 | London Wasps | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 191 | 257 | -66 | 19 | 19 | 1 | 4 | 21 | ||||
| 12 | Newcastle Falcons | 12 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 197 | 345 | -148 | 14 | 38 | 0 | 1 | 11 | ||||
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If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
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| Green background (rows 1 to 4) are play-off places, and receive berths in the 2012–13 Heineken Cup. Blue background (rows 5 and 6) are clubs that do not make the play-offs, but will receive Heineken Cup berths. Red background (row 12) to be relegated if the champion of the RFU Championship meets the requirements for promotion. Updated 09 October 2011 — Current English Leagues
source:Premiership Rugby Notes: |
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| Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | BP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northampton Saints | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 28 | 40 | 2 | 10 |
| Exeter Chiefs | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 55 | 52 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Newport Gwent Dragons | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 46 | 75 | -29 | 0 | 4 |
| Worcester Warriors | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 33 | 65 | -32 | 0 | 4 |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | BP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stade Français | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 174 | 20 | 154 | 3 | 19 |
| Worcester Warriors | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 129 | 52 | 77 | 3 | 15 |
| Bucureşti Oaks | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 63 | 137 | -74 | 1 | 5 |
| Crociati Parma | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 170 | -157 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | Tries |
|---|---|
| Joe Carlisle | 76 |
| Andy Goode | 71 |
| Marcel Garvey | 30 |
| Miles Benjamin | 20 |
| Josh Drauniniu | 20 |
| Chris Pennell | 20 |
| Tom Arscott | 15 |
[9] Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under IRB eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-IRB nationality.
Note: All players listed have not been capped at full International level.
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| Season | Premiership | Domestic Cup | European Cup | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competition | Final Position | Points | Competition | Performance | Competition | Performance | |
| 2009–10 | Guinness Premiership | 12th | 28 | LV Cup | 4th in pool | European Challenge Cup | 3rd in pool |
| 2008–09 | Guinness Premiership | 11th | 34 | EDF Energy Cup | 4th in pool | European Challenge Cup | Semi-finalists |
| 2007–08 | Guinness Premiership | 10th | 36 | EDF Energy Cup | 4th in pool | European Challenge Cup | Finalists |
| 2006–07 | Guinness Premiership | 11th | 34 | EDF Energy Cup | 2nd in pool | European Challenge Cup | 2nd in pool |
| 2005–06 | Guinness Premiership | 8th | 47 | Powergen Cup | 4th in pool | European Challenge Cup | Semi-finalists |
| 2004–05 | Zurich Premiership | 9th | 42 | Powergen Cup | 6th round | European Shield | Finalists |
Cecil Duckworth is a trustee of the Wooden Spoon, the charity of British rugby, supporting disadvantaged children. In January 2007, Worcester opened a "Playing for Success" centre, supported by Spoon.
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