Worcester Warriors step into unknown territory at Nottingham

The Worcester loosehead, 25, was on loan at Nottingham earlier in the season, even playing twice against his parent club.

Nottingham have since switched from Meadow Lane to play at Lady Bay Sports Ground.

“When I was at Nottingham, we trained at Lady Bay,” said Porter. “For Nottingham to move forward as a club, it was the right move for them to play at the training ground but the surface isn’t ideal.”

Porter played around a dozen games for Nottingham, including twice against Warriors in the British and Irish Cup.

Worcester sneaked home 26-19 in October at Meadow Lane and recorded a 43-22 success at Sixways in December.

“Nottingham were really good to me and gave me chance to play,” said Porter. “They only had three first-choice props so it was good for them and for me to play.

“The head coach Martin Haag is very good and I can’t speak highly enough of the forwards coach Neil Fowkes.

“The first time I played against Worcester was at Meadow Lane against a young side and Nottingham took them right to the end. I also played against a really strong Worcester side at Sixways and Nottingham did well for the first 30 minutes and were in front.”

Warriors recorded a 55-16 victory over Nottingham in September’s Championship match at Sixways.

“Nottingham are a very hard side to play against,” said Porter. “You can’t give them an opportunity to get into your 22 because they are effective in the maul.”

Porter moved to Warriors from Plymouth Albion in 2011 and played 33 times in his first three seasons. He made his first competitive appearance of the campaign last weekend with 14 minutes in Worcester’s 25-5 win over Doncaster Knights.

Porter added: “It was nice to get a run of games at Nottingham. I had not had that since I was at Plymouth. I want to bring some of the form I found at Nottingham to a Warriors shirt.”

Meanwhile, Warriors winger Josh Watkins, 20, has signed for Plymouth on a dual-registration basis.