SPRINGBOK Werner Swanepoel has admitted he would rather win promotion to the Premiership than simply tread water in English rugby's top flight.

The scrum half, who has won 20 caps for South Africa, is Worcester's biggest name signing this summer after making his name at international level.

However, the 29-year-old insists that he was attracted to Sixways for the promotion challenge rather than going through the motions at a middle-of-the table Premiership side.

"My thoughts about coming to Worcester were about going to a club that plays decent rugby," he said.

"Also what is also nice for me is that I'm not going to a place like Bath or Wasps.

"Here the main aim is to get to the Premiership and that is a real challenge for me.

"Obviously the Premiership is a great competition but for me I've played more than 50 games of Super 12s.

"I've been there, done that so really I'm looking for a new challenge and Worcester have provided me with that."

Swanepoel held talks with Wasps and Bath last year but decided to bide his time until a new challenge emerged. And he jumped at the chance to join the Sixways set-up.

"I started looking around last year," he added. "I had a couple of, not offers but, chats with people from Wasps and Bath.

"I always thought about coming to England to play and get some experience over here.

"I love to come to the UK with the Springbok tours and suddenly out of the blue my agent called me to tell me Worcester were interested in me. My first reaction was 'yes, definitely'."

"It is lovely here at Worcester, the set-up is great. I've been around quite a bit in the UK but Sixways is really a great rugby stadium. I'm looking forward to seeing it full."