The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has given Worcester Warriors until midday on Friday to prove they can safely host games at Sixways Stadium or they will be suspended from all competitions.

 

Worcester must provide evidence that the local authority has issued a General Safety Certificate, and written confirmation of medical provision.

 

The Premiership club are set to play Exeter at home on Sunday.

 

However, that game has now been cast into major doubt.

 

My local rugby club, worrying times indeed for the Warriors.

Players showing signs of serious brain injury should be forced to retire, former Wales forward Alix Popham says.

 

Popham, who retired in 2011, was diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy in 2019.

 

He says he regularly speaks to current players about their own conditions.

Worcester Warriors have been given permission to play this weekend after proving they can safely host matches at Sixways.

 

Sunday's Premiership game against Exeter can go ahead after they showed the Rugby Football Union (RFU) they had obtained a general safety certificate.

 

The club met Friday's midday deadline, to allow the match to be played.

 

Saturday's Allianz Cup tie between Worcester and Harlequins Women will also be staged as originally scheduled.

 

Both Worcester and Exeter delayed the announcement of their teams for Sunday while the issue around safety was being resolved, with the RFU having threatened to suspended Warriors from all competitions had they failed to be issued the relevant certificate.

 

The RFU said they are "pleased the matter has been resolved" and "recognise this has been a difficult and uncertain time" for those at Worcester, as well as their opponents this weekend.

 

Questions about the up-for-sale club's future, however, remain unanswered.

Champions Leicester Tigers overcame Newcastle Falcons for their first Premiership win of the season.

 

Tries from James Cronin and Nemani Nadolo gave Tigers an early lead, only for Josh Barton and George McGuigan scores to edge Newcastle ahead.

 

A second from Nadolo and a Chris Ashton score put Tigers 26-14 up at the break.

 

Mateo Carreras replied with a fine solo try, but a Jimmy Gopperth kick and Olly Cracknell try completed Tigers' bonus-point victory at home.

Crisis club Worcester Warriors made light of their ongoing survival issues as they gave Exeter Chiefs a real game before narrowly going down at Sixways by 36-21.

 

In a fixture that was only given the go-ahead on Friday, Warriors were edged five tries to three by the 2020 double winners

The RFU confirms Worcester Warriors have been suspended from all competitions.

 

A sad day for my local rugby club :(

PREMIERSHIP RUGBY can confirm that Saturday's Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Gloucester Rugby and Worcester Warriors will not take place following the confirmation from the RFU to suspend the Warriors from all competitions.

 

The RFU confirmed this evening that the owners of Worcester Warriors failed to meet their 5pm deadline to evidence insurance cover, availability of funds to meet the monthly payroll, and a credible plan to take the club forward

Saracens kept up their winning start in the Premiership with a crushing victory over defending champions Leicester by 51-18.

Worcester Warriors players and staff are to have their contracts terminated, following part of the club being wound up in the High Court.

 

HMRC had been pursuing Worcester, who are suspended from all competitions, for unpaid tax of around £6m.

 

Judge Nicholas Briggs instructed that WRFC Players Ltd, through which players and staff are paid, should be wound up.

 

A winding-up petition against WRFC Trading Limited, which remains in administration, has been suspended.

Wasps could be forced to forfeit ownership of the Coventry Building Society Arena after initiating administration proceedings.

 

The BBC has discovered that Coventry City Council, as freeholder of the stadium, has the right to force Wasps to forfeit the lease "if the tenant enters into some kind of insolvency regime".

 

Notices of intention to appoint administrators have been filed with the Insolvency and Companies Court against parent company Wasps Holdings Limited, Arena Coventry Limited, and the company which holds the lease - Arena Coventry Ltd (2006).

Wasps are set to follow Worcester Warriors and be suspended from the Gallagher Premiership with the Coventry-based club poised to go into administration.

 

 

Wasps are set to follow Worcester Warriors and be suspended from the Gallagher Premiership with the Coventry-based club poised to go into administration.

 

Sportsmail understands the players and staff at Wasps held an emergency meeting on Wednesday where the financial plight of the club was made clear.

 

A statement released by Wasps confirmed they will pull out of their scheduled clash with Exeter this weekend and it is 'likely that they will enter into administration in the coming days'.

 

 

Worrying times indeed for English rugby, first Worcester and now Wasps.

 

 

Wasps have made 167 players and staff redundant after becoming the Premiership's second club to go into administration inside 21 days.

 

The Coventry-based club were suspended by the Premiership last week.

 

It has now been confirmed that they have suffered the same fate as Midlands rivals Worcester and will be relegated.

Ireland's Robert Baloucoune will win his third cap against world champions South Africa in Dublin on Saturday.

 

The Ulster wing, 25, returns to the starting side for the first time in 12 months having last featured against Argentina in November 2021.

 

Scrum-half Conor Murray will make his 100th international appearance with Jamison Gibson-Park only fit enough for a place on the bench.

 

Peter O'Mahony is preferred to Jack Conan in the back row.

@1594048772081913857

Hull KR have appointed businessman Paul Sewell as chairman of a new board structure to work alongside owner Neil Hudgell and chief executive Paul Lakin.

 

Sewell, who owns the company which sponsors the Robins' Craven Park home, is the first appointment to the board.

 

The identities of the other board members alongside majority shareholder Hudgell, Sewell and Lakin will be revealed over coming weeks.

England have sacked Eddie Jones, leaving the team without a head coach nine months before the Rugby World Cup.

 

Forwards coach Richard Cockerill will take over the running of the team on an interim basis.

 

Jones departs after a dismal year of results, with only five wins from 12 Tests in 2022.

 

The 62-year-old won three Six Nations titles in his seven years in charge and led the team to the 2019 World Cup final, which they lost to South Africa.

Worcester's application to return to professional rugby next season has been rejected by the Rugby Football Union, though Wasps can return in 2023-24.

@1603749803040579586