HEAD coach Richard Hill has paid tribute to the battling qualities of Worcester Warriors warhorse Shaun Perry.

The former England scrum-half suffered a serious knee injury early in the season but, through heavy strapping and sheer bloody-mindedness, battled on to play the entire campaign.

That sort of Warrior spirit, as well as the vastly-esperienced half-back’s leadership qualities, impressed Hill, who is looking forward to the battle for the number nine jersey next term.

Another ex-England player, Paul Hodgson, will arrive from London Irish to fight for top spot with Perry and Jonny Arr.

Hill said: “You must not underestimate Shaun – he lost his ACL halfway thr-ough the season and is a real Warrior who has battled through that with heavy strapping on his knee.

“His leadership qualities are huge and, to be fair, his form did dip a little bit, but he gets everybody going, says some good things and leads by example.

“He didn’t have the best of games against Northampton [in the final game of the season], but Jonny came on and showed what a nice little footballer he is.

“With Paul coming in next season, there should be a lot of fighting in training as they all battle for the number nine jersey! But that is good – you need strength in depth. To become a really good team you have to have real competition for places.”

Without Tongan tighthead Tevita Taumoepeau as the cornerstone of their pack, Warriors were often second-best up front last term and that is something else Hill is planning to address.

Former England lock Nigel Redman has been brought in as Worcester’s forwards coach to replace Phil Davies, who left Sixways to join Cardiff Blues.

However, Hill also wants to further bolster his backroom team with the recruitment of a specialist scrum coach as well as a part-time attack coach.

He added: “There is work to be done now – we have a few new personnel coming in. Our scrum struggled all season when Tevita was not there. Without him, we haven’t been anything near the same. Against Saints, I don’t think we won a set-piece ball in the last 20 minutes and you can’t do that, which is why we fell apart.

“There is plenty of work to be done and there are lots of people out there looking for a job, but the trick will be to get the right one. It is very important to get the right blend.”