In the mellow afternoon Worcestershire sunshine they did their best to keep the faith. Yes, the Warriors had just been beaten by an Exeter team who have now started the season with two successive wins. Yes, the club is up to its eyebrows in debt. But as they applauded and cheered their team’s resolve in adversity at the final whistle, even Worcester’s most loyal supporters could feel time fast running out.
Tuesday is now looking like D-day, with the club currently not even in a position to pay the £45 a head registration fee to cover the loan players needed to fulfil Wednesday’s Premiership Cup fixture against Gloucester. After that? For all the swirling talk of an imminent deal being signed which would keep the club going and not involve administration, these remain the most unsettling of days.
It was summed up when, after 65 minutes, there was a massed round of applause to respect those staff who have still only had 65% of their August wages. It was only through the admirable willingness of unpaid staff to volunteer their services for free that this fixture went ahead. But as the Worcester director of rugby, Steve Diamond, bluntly put it: “I’m thinking they should have clapped at zero minutes for those who haven’t had any money.”
What a sad mess it all is. At least local contractors also did the decent thing and emptied the overflowing bins to satisfy health and safety requirements. And 4,999 spectators, the maximum number permitted, made more noise than anyone had a right to expect in the circumstances. You learn more about people in adversity and the strength of community spirit locally in recent days has been remarkable.
Outside before kick-off, three longtime Warriors fans in fancy dress certainly did their best to sound upbeat. “I’m a Worcester fan, we’ve always had desperately wishful thinking,” said Henry Appleby, flanked by his father, Jim, and their friend Adam. “There was no chance us missing this game today. It was more important than ever to give our ticket money.”
Even the income raised from this fixture, though, does not yet guarantee everyone will be able to return for the next home fixture against Newcastle on Saturday. Worcester remain a club floundering in shark-infested financial waters, with their bank accounts frozen and not even enough money to pay the wifi bill.
To wander through the empty bars and food areas in the West Stand, normally full of matchday anticipation and good cheer, was even more dispiriting than in the darkest Covid times. When staff members with years of experience in top-level sport roll their eyes and say they have not known an emotional rollercoaster quite like it, you believe them.
Clearly there are specific issues relating to aspects of Worcester’s recent stewardship but the bigger picture it also paints for the league is not a pretty one. The players, the television cameras and the ever-loyal fans can put a temporary gloss on the situation but it is a terrible look image-wise. As Diamond also made clear, the current state of limbo cannot continue beyond the next day or two.
Given all this the players’ resolve was commendable. With the England head coach, Eddie Jones, looking on, the Warriors never lacked commitment and asked enough attacking questions to earn three tries, scored by the wing Alex Hearle, scrum-half Gareth Simpson and centre Ollie Lawrence.
Lawrence’s 64th-minute score from a cute lineout move was a beauty and dragged the score back to 29-21, with a sense of belief starting to build in the stands. Could Worcester possibly stage an unlikely comebacks? The answer was no, with a pumped-up Jack Maunder darting over for Exeter’s fifth try with eight minutes remaining, but a shade more home discipline and composure might have made the final outcome closer still.
The good news for Exeter, whose other tries came from the man of the match Richard Capstick (2), Simmonds and Olly Woodburn, is that Henry Slade, Stuart Hogg, Jacques Vermuelen and even Sam Simmonds could all be back in contention to feature against Harlequins at Sandy Park next Sunday.
Worcester’s immediate concerns, unfortunately, are more stark. “We still don’t know what’s going on and the uncertainty is what gets you mentally,” said the captain, Francois Venter. “It’s been mentally tough with a lot going on off the pitch but hopefully it’s going to get sorted out. You can see what it means to the Warriors family for us to be here. It will be a shame if that was our last game.” The entire English game will be the poorer if the Warriors do end up fading into the sunset.
