GARY Gold has signed a new deal to become Worcester Warriors’ permanent director of rugby.

The 49-year-old, who joined the club at the end of January, will remain at Sixways until at least the summer of 2018.

Gold admitted he had been “blown away” by the players and supporters since his arrival at Warriors.

The South African has helped Warriors to pick up 17 points in seven games, including victories over Saracens, Bristol and Bath to safeguard their Aviva Premiership status.

And he decided to pledge his future to the club after returning to his homeland last week and speaking to his family.

“I suppose it was a big decision,” he said.

“It was never my intention to stay because it was never supposed to be a long term thing.

“I was going to come in here almost in a consultancy capacity and work with Carl Hogg and the coaches and that’s what we did.

“We set about our work in that way. It has gone quite well and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here.

“I’ve been blown away by this group of players and by the supporters.

“I felt it wasn’t the right time to discuss my future until we were in the clear.

“Once we were mathematically safe from relegation I went home last week and discussed it with my family and have agreed to stay on for another year.

“Now the goals and expectations have gone up and I really want to build on the work we’ve done as a group.

“If you looked ahead to next season’s Premiership and were not a supporter of any club you would say that on paper Worcester would probably be one of the relegation favourites again.

“First and foremost that’s something we need to work against and London Irish are a pretty good team assuming they come up and I am sure they will do. They are an established Premiership club and it’s not going to get any easier next season.”

Warriors chairman Bill Bolsover said: “We have been pleased with the progress we have made since Gary took over as director of rugby on an interim basis and the players have really bought into his rugby philosophy.

“Gary has been able to lead the side to some great results over some very tough opponents and we believe he will be able to build on his good work to help the club continue to move forward during the 2017/18 campaign.”

Before his move to Sixways, Gold picked up extensive experience at the highest level of the game in the northern and southern hemispheres.

He began his coaching career in 2001 as forwards coach at London Irish before stepping up to head coach in 2003 for two years.

A stint as head coach with South Africa’s Western Province followed before he became the Stormers' technical director and then assistant coach in Super Rugby.

He spent four years as part of the South Africa international set-up as assistant coach from 2008, working closely with the forwards as his country beat the British and Irish Lions and won the Tri-Nations in 2009, before dominating their Rugby World Cup pool in 2011 to reach the last eight.

Gold had an interim spell at Newcastle Falcons and then joined Bath as director of rugby in May 2012 before taking up the same role at Durban-based Super Rugby side the Sharks in 2014.

Gold said: “I’ve got two young kids who haven’t had their dad at home (in South Africa) for a period of time and that’s obviously a problem for me.

“I don’t want to miss out on my kids growing up and that is my fundamental priority in life but at the same time I love what I do.

“I am very lucky to work in an environment I love.

“I have been in environments that I didn’t love and I have walked away.

“I didn’t expect to come in to help a team languishing in the doldrums of the Premiership and enjoy it as much as I have.

“In professional sport sometimes it gels and it’s a marriage that works and sometimes it doesn’t.

“I have been in teams where I’ve had 10 to 12 international players and it hasn’t work but here we don’t have maybe as many international players but this club matters to them and they work hard.”

Warriors travel to Newcastle Falcons on Friday (8pm) in their penultimate league game and are bidding for a first away top tier success of the season.

“I am slightly deeper in my thinking of rugby,” said Gold.

“I want to make a difference in the players’ lives and I want these guys to feel that rugby can be a platform for them for the rest of their lives.

“But it does depend on how hard they work and then they will get their results.

"It has been a fun time and I was very humbled the club asked me to stay. For me, it was a decision that made a lot of sense.”