Worcester Warriors renamed Sixways Rugby and pull out of Championship

Warriors to merge with fourth-tier side Stourbridge

WORCESTER, NO MORE: A general view of a road sign in front of Sixways Stadium, home of Worcester Warriors Rugby Club.

Worcester Warriors will be renamed Sixways Rugby as the new ownership group, Atlas, revealed the club will not feature in next season’s Championship. The Rugby Football Union set a deadline of 14 Februaryfor the Warriors to provide evidence they had met relevant conditions to participate in the second-tier competition.

The director Jim O’Toole, who along with the former London Irish player James Sandford led the consortium that took over Worcester, says the Warriors would instead be merging with the fourth-tier side Stourbridge. “There were a number of key clauses in the contract that we couldn’t sign,” O’Toole, Worcester’s former chief executive, told BBC Hereford & Worcester.