WORCESTER Warriors’ capture of Bristol scrum-half Luke Baldwin is a sign of competition rather than weakness, according to director of rugby Dean Ryan.

And Ryan admitted Baldwin has illustrated his strong desire to come to Warriors, particularly after Andy Short was frozen out by Bristol for agreeing to come to Worcester next season.

Baldwin has also been told by Bristol he has no further part of play in their bid for promotion from this term's Greene King IPA Championship.

Ryan said: “Luke is a young lad and looking for opportunities. We spoke to him a couple of years ago and he made a choice to go to Bristol and he’s now made a conscious choice to come here.

“The opportunities are here and he knows the competition and he wants to get in the middle of that and feel that he has an avenue to play.

“For players who are ambitious and hungry here is a place where he can move up the ranks really quickly.

“Luke is being frustrated and we are being careful that we provide youngsters with an opportunity and make sure we support them and coach them in a way they feel they can develop their careers."

Warriors are already well stocked in the scrum-half department with Jonny Arr and Charlie Mulchrone battling for the first-team jersey and Jean Baptiste-Bruzulier having skippered the Cavaliers.

Ryan said: “Our scrum-halves are playing well so but thinks he can get in the mix of that and get through it.

“It’s for those scrum-halves to respond to the challenge or for someone else to get over the top of them.

“This is not about a position of weakness. This is about a position of real competition and having another person in there really pushing. Look what has happened to Jonny Arr this year.

“He’s playing much better rugby than he’s played in the past because he’s responded to the challenge. This is another challenge which the scrum-half position will have.”

Ryan said he did not want to talk about how Andy Robinson handles the situation at Bristol but he was pleased Short would be spending three months on loan at London Irish.

Ryan added: “Luke was well aware of the consequences and he still made the choice to sign for us and that probably illustrates the power of what he wants to achieve."