7:00am Thursday 18th March 2010
By Tom Guest
WARRIORS chief Mike Ruddock insists he is in no rush to sign a new scrum-half, despite being linked to yet another number nine.
Speculation has mounted that the Worcester director of rugby will make a move for South African Tewis de Bruyn, who plays for the Cheetahs in the Super 14.
However, the Sixways supremo said he is not worrying about recruiting a replacement for the departing Ryan Powell just yet as he plans to channel all his energy into winning the Guinness Premiership relegation battle.
Ruddock refused to be drawn on the speculation and said: “I do know about him as I have seen him play in the Super 14. However, I’m not going to rush into any decision on the number nine position at the moment.
“We will just focus our attention on winning the next few games before we start turning towards that. We are a little bit inexperienced at scrum-half, but it is still a bit early to look at it.”
Versatile de Bruyn, 27, who can also play at fly-half and full-back as well as being an excellent place-kicker, played for Cheetahs as the British and Irish Lions narrowly won 26-24 in last year’s tour.
De Bruyn, who scored the winning try as replacement full-back in the 2007 Currie Cup final, would be just the sort of scrum-half Worcester need to pep up their back-line as he is strong and not afraid to get involved with the bigger forwards around the rucks and mauls.
Warriors’ only experienced number nine Powell will be leaving Sixways in the summer after losing the first-choice position to young academy star Jonny Arr.
They have been desperate for a top-quality half-back pairing for years and, with Andy Goode signed up, it is vital they pull a rabbit out of the hat with a marquee signing behind the pack.
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