Boss Mike Ruddock believes his Worcester Warriors will boast a ‘good mix’ in the front row next season – and revealed another new face is also in the pipeline.
Warriors have confirmed the signing of Scotland international Bruce Douglas on a two-year deal from this summer and a new-look squad of players for the front row is now taking shape.
“We have seen with our difficulties to props in recent years that it’s important to have quality and depth of quality, with the addition of Bruce Douglas we have gone a long way to doing that,” said Ruddock.
“We are also exploring a third option that we are working on and hopefully that will be announced fairly soon too.
“We will have a good mix with the older experienced player in Tevita (Taumoepeau), someone who is a bit younger with international quality in Bruce (Douglas) and then a youngster who is coming through, English qualified and who can be a top player.”
Meanwhile, Ruddock has paid tribute to several players who are set to leave the club at the end of the current season.
He said: “I have spoken to Olivier Sougens about his future. When we signed him, quite late as Chris Horsman had to drop out of his last year because of injury, he came straight over and has done fantastically well.
“If he hadn’t had a knee injury I might have been tempted to keep him again as he showed on Friday against Newcastle what a strong performer he is. He has got quality and it is just unfortunate, with that knee injury, that I won’t be able to keep him on.
“Shaun Ruwers will also be leaving us at the end of the season. We want to thank both players for their efforts in a Warriors jersey.
“We need to freshen the squad up from time to time and that is what we have done. There are a few players who will also be leaving including Jordan Page, the young hooker. He is a good young player and showed that against Leeds in the A game so we wish him all the best.”