HIGH performance director Nick Johnston doesn’t believe Dean Ryan’s departure will leave an insurmountable knowledge gap at Sixways.

The 50-year-old Ryan has been a high-profile and outspoken figure at Sixways Stadium for the past three years.

He brought Johnston and head coach Carl Hogg to Sixways and the pair are keen to drive their friend’s legacy forward.

“You can’t underestimate Dean’s intellect and we have the utmost respect for him,” said Johnston, who had previously been performance director at high-flying Northampton Saints.

“Carl and I are both close to Dean and we have known each other for a long time and are good friends.

“But the beauty of having such intellect in the room every day was he passed that on and he’s helped that with a succession plan.

“We are now involved in succession planning the club and Dean has been fundamental to that.

“I think there is still a lot of rugby intellect in the building which will move this team forward.”

Warriors chief executive Jim O’Toole says he has confidence in the abilities of Hogg and Johnston to guide the club in the right direction.

“Part of Dean’s mission and vision jointly agreed with the board over the last three or four years was to develop a succession plan and a coaching environment which didn’t just depend on one person and we have achieved that,” said O’Toole.

“We have built a very good coaching set-up with some emerging and established talent led by Carl and we have also built a best-in-class performance operation under Nick.

“For us, it makes perfect sense for this set-up to take over from a single figure head, which in the past was a director of rugby.

“For the first time ever when Warriors have changed their director of rugby, we had a succession plan in place and it has already kicked in.”

O’Toole added: “We are placing our trust in our succession plan and specifically in Carl and Nick.

“The new era has begun and the squad are working hard.

“It’s business as usual with only one employee having left the company.”