WORCESTER Warriors are hopeful that Wednesday’s Premiership Rugby Cup match at Bath Rugby will go ahead after having to forfeit last Friday night’s game at Gloucester due to not being able to select a side because of Covid, illness and injury.
A total of 36 players were unavailable for the Gallagher Premiership derby clash at Kingsholm, which was cancelled just four hours before the scheduled kick-off.
Warriors were not able to select enough front-row numbers for the matchday squad, which is four per Premiership regulations, and had to inform Gloucester and the PRL that they could not fulfil the fixture.
Social media was awash with criticism and debate surrounding the decision, with many questioning the lateness of the announcement.
I think it's really poor from Worcester to not be able to find an emergency loan.
— SPK (@spkeene) March 25, 2022
1 game cancelled is too many. Need large fines to force teams to discourage this and make plain how important fulfilling games is.
It’s the last minute announcement. The club could have made a statement earlier in the week to say that fielding a team would potentially be a problem. It’s poor communication
— Punter (@blodfather) March 25, 2022
Been pretty obvious all week that Worcester were struggling for players from quotes in the media. To leave it until 3pm on the day of the game will have annoyed plenty. If a visiting team had done that at Sixways, Worcester fans would be up in arms too.
— The Wasps Report (@TheWaspsReport) March 25, 2022
It has been suggested that Worcester informed PRL on Thursday but the announcement was not released until 3pm on Friday afternoon, which did not help their cause.
But despite the cancellation, the signs are positive for the all-important cup tie on Wednesday with Bath.
Warriors signed a number of players on loan for the cup game at Exeter just 10 days ago and the side also included Fijian Lekima Ravuvu, who is on trial at Sixways for the next few weeks.
This is the side that played Exeter in that game earlier this month:
Warriors | 15 Morgan Bunting (loan), 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Oli Morris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Tom Howe, 10 Jamie Shillcock, 9 Will Chudley (C), 1 Kai Owen, 2 Beck Cutting, 3 Jay Tyack, 4 James Scott, 5 Justin Clegg, 6 Caleb Montgomery, 7 Jack Forsythe, 8 Lekima Ravuvu (trialist).
Replacements | 16 Joe Richardson, 17 Lewis Holsey, 18 Ben Murphy, 19 Cheick Kone, 20 Isaac Miller, 21 Ollie Wynn, 22 Tom Miles, 23 Iestyn Galton (loan).
it is thought that Warriors will play something similar to this on Wednesday but there could be even more players signed on a temporary basis, including a number of players from Championship side Hartpury.
Worcester sit top of their Pool with 12 points from their three games and if they win on Wednesday, they will qualify for the semi-finals.
The squad will not train on Monday but a spokesperson for the club said they were hopeful that by Wednesday some with illness and/or injury will have recovered in time to ensure the game can go ahead.
There is set to be a press conference on Tuesday with boss Steve Diamond, which the Worcester News will bring you all of the latest from.
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