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'Positive energy' Diamond tweet will delight all Worcester fans

(Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

Worcester boss Steve Diamond has tweeted confirmation that all his players have been paid and that their Gallagher Premiership season will begin as planned away to London Irish on September 10. There were fears that the failure to pay salaries on the August 31 due day would spark a player exodus ahead of the new campaign, but an eleventh-hour intervention has headed off that crisis for now.

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A leaked email written by Worcester co-owner Colin Goldring on Tuesday generated grave concerns that the payroll would not happen due to the club’s finances being frozen by HMRC due to an unpaid tax bill. “As you will all no doubt know, the club’s bank accounts were frozen shortly after the HMRC petition was issued meaning we are not able to access those funds to help meet payroll. Therefore we do not have the money at this moment to fulfil payroll tomorrow [Wednesday],” read the letter.

The situation dramatically worsened on Wednesday afternoon when Diamond tweeted a 148-word message at 4pm announcing that Friday’s planned friendly versus Glasgow in Inverness was cancelled following the failure to pay wages.

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“We have been forced to take the hugely frustrating and disappointing decision not to travel to Inverness tomorrow [Thursday] for our pre-season fixture against Glasgow Warriors on Friday as players and staff wages remain unpaid,” he wrote at the time.

It simply isn’t feasible to play when futures remain uncertain and a decision had to be taken. It is unethical for professional players to play a full-on game with the risk of injury and the real possibility of no employment to follow. We thank everyone for their continued support and for uniting behind us all.”

However, the outlook theatrically changed again five-and-a-half hours later when Diamond took to Twitter once more, tweeting a 50-word message explaining that a last-gasp resolution had been found to the wages impasse and that Worcester were now suddenly back on track to start the English league season away to London Irish.

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“I would like to confirm having spoken to our owners, all players are paid and all rugby and non-rugby staff will be paid fully over the next few days. Thanks go to Colin and Jason (Whittingham, the other co-owner). We must prepare for Irish in ten days. All positive energy from now on, please,” he wrote.

If the player wages hadn’t been paid their next step would have been to serve notice to Worcester to rectify the outstanding payment. If this wasn’t resolved within 14 days, the players could then terminate the contracts, which also takes 14 days, and leave Sixways as free agents.

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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