TWELVE months ago Nick Johnston was handed the daunting challenge of setting the foundations for Worcester Warriors’ future.
Without a fully functioning academy, the Sixways side were desperate to see their once-revered youth system thrive again and director of rugby Dean Ryan was confident his newly-appointed high performance director was the man to get the wheels in motion.
The Warriors boss even described the capture of Johnston, who had previously worked at Northampton Saints and Sale Sharks, as “bigger than any player signing for the club”.
That was some statement by Ryan, but Johnston told The Observer he has relished the task since he first sat at his desk at Sixways almost exactly a year to the day.
“It has been a busy first year on a few fronts, but worthwhile and very enjoyable,” he said. “There have been challenges, but we are beginning to move in the right direction on and off the field.
“We have got a vibrant young playing group and we have got excellent staff surrounding that.
“The environment is a challenging one, but challenging in a positive way which is good to be a part of.”
Most of his joy has come from seeing three of the club’s six regional academy centres launch in 2014. Luctonians RFC in Herefordshire has become the latest base where Warriors will hope to reap benefits of talented young rugby players in the area.
Centres have also been set up at King Edward’s School in Birmingham and Barkers Butts RFC in Coventry and Johnston said he was looking forward to opening further academies at Warwick School, Telford College and Hereford Cathedral School in the coming months.
“Our ambition was to get this up and running,” he said. “We probably did that sooner than we believed we could, so that is a good start and what we will do now is keep adding value to this programme.
“As our community and programmes get more far reaching effectively our net is cast further so there is more chance of catching the next international and putting them in our system.
“The detail of our programme is very impressive and it is only going to improve with better coaches, young players and practitioners working in partnership with us.
“This programme had nothing at u13 level, but now we have 50 young players, so it is beginning to work and it is exciting to be involved in.”
Warriors have also been busy bolstering their backroom staff, with strength and conditioning coaches and sports scientists, and Johnston has not ruled out making further additions to his team in 2015.
“We are staffed pretty well, but if we have got to go and find more it only means one thing – the programme is working,” he added.