Ultimate team | Centres

Over the next few weeks we will be compiling a fan voted Ultimate Team of Warriors stars since the professional era of the club began in 1996.

Supporters can vote on Twitter with four players to chose from in each position. The third position is centres in a two part vote and you can take part by visiting our twitter page.

Ultimate team so far:
15 | Chris Pennell – 52% of 559 votes
14 | Bryce Heem – 70% of 552 votes
11 | Josh Adams – 62% of 687 votes

Ryan Mills

Ryan Mills joined the club in the summer of 2014 after four season with Gloucester having played all his youth rugby for Exeter, his hometown club.

A gifted and versatile centre, Mills has overcome a number of serious injuries and more than a dozen operations to join Warriors’ 100 Club, a landmark he reached against Castres in November.

He played an important part in helping Warriors reclaim their Premiership status at the first attempt in his first season at Sixways.

Many observers regard Mills as the best centre of the modern era not to have been capped by England.

Dale Rasmussen

Dale Rasmussen played his formative rugby for the Ponsonby club in his hometown of Auckland and joined Warriors in 2004 after a season of Championship rugby with Exeter Chiefs.

He made his Warriors debut in the club’s first-ever Premiership match against Newcastle Falcons and went on to make 199 appearances in eight years at Sixways.

Rasmussen was capped nine times by Samoa between 2003 and 2004, four of them in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

Strong-running and hard-tackling, Rasmussen became a firm favourite with supporters before he announced his retirement in 2012.

Alex Grove

Solihull-born and educated at the birthplace of rugby, Rugby School, Grove had Scottish ancestry through his maternal grandfather Ron Wylie, the former West Bromwich Albion football manager.

Having played for Scotland’s age group teams, Grove played three Tests in the 2009 Autumn Internationals, the culmination of years of hard work by a model professional.

Grove had spells on loan at Birmingham & Solihull, Stourbridge and Edinburgh during a ten-year Warriors career in which he made 153 appearances and scored 105 points.

He left Sixways in 2016 and had spells with Coventry and Birmingham Moseley before taking up a coaching role with this season’s Midlands Premier champions Bournville.

Ali Murdoch

Ali Murdoch was a wing when he made his Australia debut against France in  October 1993 and again when he made his second and final international appearance against Ireland in Brisbane in June 1996.

But it was as a powerful and busy centre that Murdoch will be best remembered by Warriors supporters.

He first played Premiership rugby for Bedford Blues between 1998 and 2000 and was first team coach in his second season with Adrian Skeggs his assistant.

Skeggs was appointed Warriors’ Director of Rugby in 2000 and brought Murdoch with him as a player. Murdoch scored 13 tries in his first season with Warriors and five more in his second before he joined Exeter Chiefs.

Ben Hinshelwood

Ben Hinshelwood was born and raised in Australia but was of proud Scottish stock as his father Sandy played 21 Tests for Scotland between 1966 and 1970 and went on two British and Irish Lions tours.

Hinshelwood played his formative rugby for Sydney University and had a brief career in banking and a short stint with Bedford Blues before he joined Warriors in 2001.

He was soon on the radar of the Scotland selectors and won 19 caps – the most by a player while with Warriors – between his debut against Canada in 2002 and 2005.

Hinshelwood was a key member of the side that took Warriors into the Premiership for the first time but was forced to retire in December 2005 because of a back injury.

Wynand Olivier

Wynand Olivier already had a glittering career before he joined the club in 2015 from French Top 14 side Montpellier.

He was a Rugby World Cup winner in 2007 and had won 38 caps in a seven year international career with South Africa.

Having played for the Blue Bulls and Bulls, Olivier had a season in Japan with Ricoh Black Rams and two with Montpellier.

During four seasons with Warriors, Olivier scored 15 tries in 53 appearances before he announced his retirement at the end of the 2018/19 season.

Thomas Lombard

Thomas Lombard said an emotional farewell to Sixways in the last home match of the 2005/06 season and scored a try in what was supposed by his final match at Bath a week later.

He was due to join Castres but Cecil Duckworth persuaded the popular Frenchman and his pregnant wife Stephanie to stay with Warriors for one more season.

Lombard had already won 12 France caps and won France’s Top-14 competition four times during a successful seven year stint with Stade Francais before he joined Warriors in 2004.

He began his career across Paris with Racing and rejoined them in 2007. He is now General Manager at Stade Francais.

Sam Tuitupou

Sam Tuitupou arrived at Sixways in 2007 with an impressive CV having already won nine All Blacks caps between 2004 and 2006, won the Super Rugby with Blues, New Zealand’s provincial competition with Auckland and World Championships at Under-19 and Under-21 levels.

He joined Warriors at the same time as fellow All Blacks Rico Gear and Greg Rawlinson and soon demonstrated why he had the nickname ‘Hacksaw Sam’ with his ferocious tackling and fearless ball carrying.

Tuitupou had three seasons with Warriors in which he made 39 appearances and scored five tries.

He joined Munster in 2010, returned to the Premiership a year later when he joined Sale Sharks and had two season with Coventry before he retired at the end of the 2018/19 season.

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