Worcester Warriors have today bolstered the club’s second row resources with the major signing of former England international lock Chris Jones from Sale Sharks.
Highly-rated Jones, who has won 14 international caps for England, will join Warriors this summer on a three-year deal after over a decade of dedicated service at Sharks.
The athletic 30-year-old, who can play in the second row or back row, has played over 200 games for Sale with his outstanding line-out jumping making him a constant threat to other teams, while a series of long range tries has underlined his pace and skills.
Manchester-born Jones has played for England Sevens and was part of the England A team that beat France A, Scotland A and Italy A in the 2003 Six Nations and also went on the unbeaten England tour to North America and Japan that year.
Jones first played for England in the uncapped match against the Barbarians at Twickenham in May 2003 before being called up by Clive Woodward for the senior team ahead of the 2004 Six Nations. He came off the bench against Italy for his debut and marked his appearance with a try
He was selected for England’s 2004 summer tour, starting against the All Blacks in Dunedin in the first Test. Jones went on to collect more caps on the 2006 tour of Australia and 2007 tour of South Africa.
Head Coach Richard Hill said: “With Graham Kitchener leaving at the end of the season, it was critical that we recruited very strongly and signed someone who could play in that role. We believe in Chris Jones we have the ideal fit and someone who will be a major player for us for years to come.
“Chris has committed his long-term future to us and we are delighted as he is an outstanding professional who is used to playing at the very highest level for club and country.
“Chris is a very athletic player who gets around the field and wants to play the style of rugby we are looking to encourage. His attitude and skills are first rate, he is a strong ball carrier and he also brings us real flexibility as he can play in the back row.”