WORCESTER Warriors are looking to add ‘two or three’ players of proven quality to their squad next season.
Since last Thursday clubs in England have been allowed to talk to players whose contracts come to an end in the summer over possible moves.
This proved to be a busy period for Warriors last year as they signed a total of 18 first team players, while a significant bulk of the 2013/14 squad went the other way.
Director of rugby Dean Ryan revealed Worcester would be active again in the transfer market, but he insisted there would not be as many changes this summer.
“To win the Championship isn’t our sole challenge as the major challenge is to win the Championship and be successful with this group in the Premiership, so want to keep travelling with people that potentially people wouldn’t know,” Ryan said.
“If you look at the success we have had, there is no doubt that (Darren) O’Shea can play in the future and we are also really excited about Christian Scotland-Williamson who will come back in the new year, so I think we will get more of those type of individuals.
“But we are talking smaller numbers than last year, so if we can get two or three more experienced quality players then we would be really pleased.”
Players considering moving to Sixways are unlikely to know what league Warriors would be playing in next season until the Greene King IPA Championship play-offs have finished in late May, but Ryan believed this would not be an issue when talking to possible signings.
“Having gone down last year, we are not suddenly the most popular place for Premiership players to come to,” he added. “We have also got the ‘will you get promoted?’ type questions hanging over us all the time?
“But we still did plenty of recruitment despite having the ‘will you be relegated?’ scenario last season. Do we find it difficult to convince the likes of Chris Robshaw to come to us? Yes we do and we always have which is why we never got them and ended up getting the wrong ones in the past.
“This club needs years of doing it right before we become a credible choice again, so the growth of our players is going to come from within.”