Diamond now Worcester boss as Thomas exits with immediate effect

It has taken Steve Diamond just eight weeks to go from getting his foot in the door at Worcester as the lead rugby consultant to succeeding Alan Solomons as director of rugby on a two-year deal from next summer, a decision that has resulted in head coach Jonathan Thomas leaving the club with immediate effect.  

It was November 29 when Diamond arrived at Sixways with the unusual title of lead rugby consultant just eleven months after he had stepped away from Sale as their director of rugby. 

Having replenished the batteries following the need for some family time after a near decade-long stint in charge in Manchester, the installation of Diamond as the boss at Worcester comes following his initial two-month stint with the Premiership stragglers.

Diamond will take charge of the rugby programme immediately, with Solomons providing support as needed before he relinquished his director of rugby role to Diamond at the end of the season. 

“Having taken the time to work with Steve in his role as a lead rugby consultant it was the logical decision to offer him the role as director of rugby for the next two seasons,” explained Warriors co-owners Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham.

"In terms of how it came about, I can’t answer that"

– With the Worcester stage set for Steve Diamond to start work next Monday, @heagneyl 👨‍💻 has heard from Jonathan Thomas about the prospect of having a no-nonsense line manager #Warriors #GallagherPremhttps://t.co/tHPhJv769w

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 24, 2021

“Steve is an experienced and proven director of rugby with the qualities needed to take the club to the next level and achieve our ambitions of competing at the top end of the Premiership. We have invested a great deal into ensuring we have all the right ingredients for the club to reach its full potential.

“We have unwavering confidence in the strength of the players and the ability of the club to achieve that goal. We will continue to do everything we can to achieve it. Alan has built an excellent platform for Steve to take things to the next level and achieve the full potential this club has to offer.

“Alan arrived in a consultancy role four years ago and his recruitment philosophy to develop and invest in a core of home-grown Worcester players and supplement them with X-factor talent has led to the development and retention of an exciting group of young players with more now coming through behind them in the academy.

“Jonathan has given his all to the club. We appreciate everything he has done in his time at Warriors both as a player and a coach and we wish him all the very best in his future ventures.”

Diamond added: “We have a really exciting challenge in front of us and it is one that I am relishing. We have enthusiastic owners who have ambitions for the club to be established in the top six of the Gallagher Premiership and play in the Heineken Champions Cup.

“Clearly we are not where we would like to be at the moment as a club. To achieve our ambitions, our results need to improve and changes need to be made. A key part of my role will be the recruitment of players and staff.

“Worcester is a hotbed of rugby with a fantastic core group of supporters. We want to grow that supporter base and give the city, county and region a successful and sustainable Premiership club that everyone can be proud of.”