Worcester Warriors: Steve Diamond ‘100 per cent confident’ they will complete 2022/23 Premiership campaign

Worcester Warriors director of rugby Steve Diamond believes that they will be able to finish the season, despite the current financial issues surrounding the club.

Even though they have had assurances from the owners, the players have reportedly yet to be paid their wages for August.

Diamond explained, however, that it is due to the payments coming from another bank account and that they have been cleared to start the season by Premiership Rugby.

Not going by bike

“I’m 100 per cent confident that will happen (Worcester will finish the season),” Diamond told reporters.

“I’m pretty sure that this short-term relief will now stay. If we do manage to get through this, then money does start coming in through the turnstiles.

“We will definitely play the game at London Irish – we will be going on our own coach, no one will be making their own way, we won’t be going by bike.”

Worcester’s preparations for the new campaign have been severely disrupted and it took a further blow when their pre-season clash against Glasgow Warriors was cancelled.

They will have no matches ahead of their opener against London Irish but Diamond is remaining positive, saying: “It might be revolutionary – you don’t play four pre-season games ahead of the season and we could upset the apple cart!

“I am not trying to be joyous but the players have got a very good mentality about them. Are we as prepared as some of the other teams? Possibly not, but as we know it’s a 40-week season.”

Diamond slams previous regimes

The Warriors director of rugby was heavily critical of previous regimes, who he believed spent too much money on players that did not produce on the pitch.

Diamond has sought to alter that mentality and insists that they are on the right track, providing the club can stay in business.

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“They’ve always had this sort of also-ran tag but paying superstar money. Since I’ve come in, that has radically changed,” he said.

“They’re a hard-working group now, but they see how delicate it is and they see it’s even more delicate when they speak to their agents because there aren’t many jobs around.”

Worcester aren’t the only English club to be struggling, with the Covid pandemic having a huge impact, and Premiership Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor believes that it will take a while before the game recovers.

“It’s precarious. Every club has – quite rightly – borrowed money from the government to get themselves through,” Massie-Taylor said.

“I don’t know the finances of any other clubs, but there are other clubs who are in a precarious position.”