Worcester to return to professional rugby union next season in new Tier 2 league

Worcester Warriors will return to professional rugby union next season after being accepted as members of the new 14-club Tier 2 league.

The Rugby Football Union announced that Worcester, all 12 current Championship teams and a promoted National League One side – subject to that club meeting minimum operating standards – will comprise the division below the Gallagher Premiership after an open tender process.

Warriors entered administration in September 2022 with debts of around £25million. They were suspended from the Premiership during a torrid period in the club’s history, but now have a new owner in Chris Holland and Junction 6 Limited.

Worcester will continue to play at Sixways Stadium, with plans to increase capacity to 12,750, build a new 120-room hotel on site and establish a national centre for esports.

As part of conditions to join the expanded league, Worcester’s new ownership has provided a financial security guarantee, held by the RFU, as well as committing to paying off debts left by the previous owners to rugby creditors.

They have also entered into an agreement with relevant parties which will result in remaining contractual funds from the administration being paid to DCMS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) and HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) by the end of the year.

Holland also owns Wasps, who went into administration a month after Worcester but are currently not playing in any league.

“Our budget is there or thereabouts with regards to the (Championship) top five. We are sustainable and we have planned for the resilience of this for some time,” Holland told reporters at Sixways.

“It was a very detailed and challenging process. It was three months of going to the dentist, effectively. All through that, our sustainability and business plans were tested and retested.

“We started the process in November, and when we decided to come back we had a number of options. One was to return to the bottom of the pyramid – as others before us have – and lose our rugby creditors.

“But we got together – it’s a small team which has been here for a long time – so the business plan was that we would engage and own the rugby creditor rule. We decided to take the pain, and it is a pain, pay the rugby creditors and return.”

Worcester previously helped develop current England internationals like Fin Smith, Ollie Lawrence and Ted Hill.

And on the squad that is being assembled for next season, Holland added: “We have been busy since Christmas.

“We have a kit sponsor, we have got a large selection of names and a large selection of conditional offers out there, so we will not have a problem with putting out a quality team.”

Tier 2 chair Simon Gilham described Worcester as “a fascinating case” as he outlined the process they faced.

“We put them through a very rigorous – which, sometimes, might have felt unfair – process, and I would like to insist on that,” he said.

“It was more than any other club which is in tier two. We demanded conditions and did not allow them any wriggle room.

“As a result of that, they have provided us with a substantial financial guarantee, which is currently in an RFU special account. I think that is a first in English rugby, in terms of financial discipline and assurance.”