Worcester Sport
Warriors snap up prop from Exeter
9:57am Thursday 9th February 2012
WARRIORS will today bolster their front row resources for next season by announcing a deal to sign former Ireland ‘A’ prop John Andress from Exeter Chiefs.
The Sandy Park outfit were keen to retain the services of the 27-year-old tighthead, who has also played for Harlequins and Ulster, but he has opted to sign on at Sixways.
Belfast-born Andress has made 12 appearances for the Chiefs this season, winning starting spots for the Devon side’s recent important games with Perpignan in the Amlin Challenge Cup and the Aviva Premiership clash with Harlequins.
Exeter boss Rob Baxter said: “As far as we were concerned, we wanted John to stay – we offered him a contract but, after looking around the market place, he has decided to take up an offer at Worcester.
“There’s a lot of time left in the season and we expect him to be focused on making sure we have a good end to the campaign.
“We are only just past the half-way point of the season, we’ve still got some business to do in Europe and there’s a long way to go in the Premiership.
“Tighthead is a position where you need plenty of bodies, not just for playing but for training, and John can play a full part in the rest of an important season for us. He can worry about next season once this campaign is over and he will go with our best wishes.”
Baxter added: “We’ll need to look for another tighthead prop now. We have got some guys developing in the academy – Lloyd Fairbrother is coming through and at loosehead we have Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ben Rogers, so we have a bit of strength there.
“Chris Budgen came in and did well last weekend after a little time out of the first team, so we’ve got good players in that position.
“It is a position where you get through quite a few players and the more successful Craig Mitchell is the more he’ll be away with Wales so we need plenty of cover for next season.”
Warriors head coach Richard Hill has already revealed he is keen to retain the services of veteran tighthead Tevita Taumoepeau, so Andress would be joining the Tongan in a battle for the Worcester number three shirt.
Youngsters Oliver Tom-aszczyk and James Currie will add competition at tighthead, but former Scot-land prop Bruce Douglas is out of contract and looks unlikely to be offered a new deal.