THE man tipped to be Worcester Rugby Club's new skipper is determined to spend as little time as possible out of the Premiership.

Kingsley Jones, who this week completed a move from Kingsholm to Sixways, dismisses any talk of his career on the slide after dropping down a division.

And the bubbly Welshman, who celebrated his 31st birthday by penning a two-year contract at Worcester, believes the challenge of winning promotion will re-ignite the fire inside him.

"I needed a new challenge," said Jones.

"I was still contracted at Gloucester for another year and if I had wanted to stay in the Premiership, it wasn't a problem with the coach."

Last year's Gloucester captain and crowd favourite Jones decided to quit the Premiership club however, after witnessing the emergence of England's Andrew Hazell.

"I just felt that Andrew Hazell - an English, Gloucester boy - is a very good young player and it would have been wrong for me to stay and fight out a place with him.

" I don't want to be doing that at this stage of my career and Andrew deserves his chance."

The flanker, who has skippered his country, enjoyed a distinguished career at the Cherry and Whites.

But he had no hesitation in joining Worcester once the offer came.

"It is a travesty that the club is not in the Premiership and I will do everything I possibly can to get them into the top flight.

"If I didn't think that was going to happen, I would have come here."

Ben Clarke, the other big name to sign up for Worcester this week, is also an obvious candidate for the club captaincy.

But for Jones, just his presence will help the team on and off the pitch whoever wears the armband.

"I've spoken about the captaincy with the club.

"But whether it's me or Ben, I'm sure we'll both be heavily involved in leading the team anyway.

"We will share responsibilities - these days you need more than one captain, you need leaders throughout the team if you are to be successful in rugby."