Worcester title win 'very special' - coach Everard

Worcester Warriors head coach Matt Everard said landing The Champ title in their first season back in professional rugby was "as special as it gets".

Everard was recruited in May last year to build a squad from scratch as Warriors returned following their expulsion from the Premiership in the 2022-23 season after going into administration.

Having sneaked into the play-offs by winning their final match of the regular season, Worcester shocked runaway leaders Ealing in the semi-finals, and then pulled off another big win on the road by beating Bedford Blues in Sunday's final.

"It's as special as it can get, I'm so proud of the group," Everard told BBC Hereford & Worcester.

"When I say the group I mean the players and the staff, they've been unbelievable.

"The fans are the ones that have been through the wringer, they're the ones that have been through the most, so to see how happy they are today and how proud they are of the players is emotional. It's very, very special."

Warriors captain Matt Kvesic was the first signing made in the squad rebuild, having made more than 160 appearances in two previous spells with the club.

"What a year it's been, it's not even been a year since we got together, so I'm a little bit lost for words and emotional," he told BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester.

"It's just different - the whole story about the uniqueness of what's happened here, the way we've come back together.

"I don't think another team has done this, come back into professional rugby and won the league the way we have."

Warriors will play second-tier rugby again next season after promotion and relegation was scrapped earlier this year.

But chairman Christopher Holland said there was "a belief in the direction we are travelling" and "a determination to continue building a future".

"The players and coaching staff deserve enormous credit for what they have achieved this season," he told the club website., external

"This time last year, there was no squad, no coaches, no medical team, no analysts - just a vision and a belief.

"The team we built have consistently demonstrated the standards, resilience and ambition necessary to compete at the top level of this league."