WITH Billy Searle joining the Warriors ranks next season on a two-year contract, Worcester News sportS reporter Marcello Cossali-Francis takes a look at what the 23-year-old can offer the Sixways faithful.

Searle has played fly-half for the majority of his early career and that is the position where he is most comfortable, but he can also fill in at full-back.

READ MORE | Warriors sign Searle from Wasps

Having seen him play at Bristol and Wasps, the young man from the south west certainly has an eye-catching game.

He is in a similar mould to George Ford, not a huge physical presence, but a player who punches above his weight and likes playing off the cuff.

He possesses a good left boot and can vary his style of kicking to best cause damage, whether that be to pin sides deep in their own half or to kick-through for attackers to latch-on to.

He is one of your “flair” players that is capable of making an opportunity out of nothing. When he receives the ball, he looks up and plays what’s in front of him and defenders are kept guessing as to what he is going to do, such is the variation in his game.

By keeping the ball in two hands, he gives very little away, which means players stand off him and that provides him with space in which to create attacks.

His major asset is, above all else, his speed. He is lightening quick and does not need much room in which to accelerate away from defenders. There are various highlight reels on YouTube of him ghosting through the smallest of gaps.

Warriors have plenty of exciting players out wide and the criticism, some would say, is that they aren’t always utilised as much as they should. Whilst the likes of Duncan Weir and Jono Lance are more controlled, Searle definitely offers something different.

The link-up between fly-half and the outside backs is something that Warriors could improve on and Searle definitely will help that. Due to him being only 5”10 and just 85KG, he tends to stand back from the gain-line and start things from deep, which allows for two things.

One, he can have more time to make decisions and, two, can use his pace to get outside of the midfield, giving the likes of Ed Fidow and Melani Nanai the chance to get ball in hand.

However, he hasn’t played a lot of rugby in the last year, having suffered a serious leg break in February 2019 whilst playing for Wasps. Up until that point, he was keeping All Black, Lima Sopoaga, out of the starting team.

Searle has made just four appearances this season, so Warriors will be hoping he can get some more game time under his belt before moving to Worcester.

Working with Lance and Weir, Searle will hopefully grow into his undoubted potential and his addition will continue to create more optimism at the club.