Boss Mike Ruddock has spoken of his delight that ‘anchorman’ Tevita Taumoepeau has signed a new Worcester Warriors deal – and revealed his front row plans for next season are continuing to take shape.
Taumoepeau has agreed a new one-year contract at Sixways Stadium and Ruddock revealed two other targets were on the radar.
“Tevita has done fantastically well and is a real anchorman of the scrum,” said Ruddock.
“It is a scrum to be feared now and we’re delighted that he is staying on board with us for at least another year – we are hoping he will stay on ever longer.
“He is a very popular guy Dave, as we call him, very well respected and a good guy for the squad.
“I have been looking to do this deal for a number of months. We have been working behind the scenes for quite a while and he was always part of the three point plan we have,” he added.
“Tevita was always going to be our number one target to keep at the club. You saw his experience and his quality at the weekend against Saracens. We had a push over try at London Irish too because of what he brings to that scrum.
“We are also keen to get a couple of other tighthead props behind him. One of those would be another international tighthead that we are looking at, we are confident that is going to happen. That would give us two internationals.
“We are also looking at a younger tighthead who can become an international. Again that is pretty much done and dusted. It is a matter of making sure those things are in place and then we can announce them. That is the plan and we are well advanced with that.”
Ruddock has also praised the contribution of French star Olivier Sourgens this season, after battling back from a knee injury.
He said: “The door is not closed for Olivier, he is a very popular guy and he has done a great job for us.
“One of the reasons why I signed Olivier was that he played 25 games last season and it was roughly that figure every year. When he came to us he sustained a knee injury in training so he has done really well to battle back and he is still playing good rugby.
“Our original intention was to sign Olivier for one year whilst we went about looking for some longer term plans.”