Ex-England star Nick Easter returns to Worcester Warriors looking to get one over former club

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Nick Easter’s spell at Worcester Warriors culminated in finding out the club was entering administration the day he had completed on a house in the area.

On Saturday, he returns to Sixways in charge of an underdog Chinnor side looking to complete an unlikely treble in the first round of the Elior Champ Rugby play-offs. After his three-month stay with Worcester, where former England and Harlequins No. 8 Easter was forwards and defence coach, then third-tier Chinnor was an unlikely landing spot, but it has proved a match made in heaven.

And as the surprise package in the Champ this season, Chinnor are hoping to spring yet another shock when they head to Sixways in Saturday’s quarter-final, five months after being the first team to beat the reformed Warriors in the ground.

Reflecting on his time as a player at Sixways, Easter said: “It wasn’t a nice period because I’d moved the family to a place we hadn’t been before, but you’ve got to make it work. You’re calling up who you can, exhausting your field of communication and network to find the opportunity.

“The worst thing you can do is sit and wallow because there was a period where they might be bought out and saved. But ultimately, most people knew the writing was on the wall. I joined Chinnor at the end of November, beginning of December time. It wasn’t the Premiership, it was National One, but it was a director of rugby role as opposed to assistant coach, which is what I’d done before.

“They were struggling with two wins from 11 and I thought 'what a great challenge'. It was an opportunity to develop and learn some new skill sets. It’s led us to where we are now. It’s a wonderful club with great people and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.”

Chinnor’s remarkable success is in large part down to one man, former player and captain and then CEO, Simon Vickers. Vickers oversaw Chinnor’s rise through the rugby pyramid before he sadly passed away in April and Easter admits he is still getting his head around the fact that they will not be able to catch up on the Villagers’ progress.

He said: “He was quite an unbelievable guy anyway, but certainly as far as Chinnor is concerned, they wouldn’t be where they are now without him. It is surreal, no longer is he going to be popping in, or I’m popping into him for our bi-weekly chats, the texts are not happening that we used to catch up on every single week.

“But the family are right behind everything that he has built and so is everyone else at the club. Since his sad passing, we’ve had two home games and we’ve had our best two crowds ever. People are still talking about what he’s done and most importantly continuing to build on the legacy. He didn’t want anything to stand still and he’s always been a progressive who wants things to move forward.”

As a part-time club who train just twice a week, Chinnor head to Worcester as underdogs, even after completing the double over the former PREM Rugby outfit. But while Easter insists the favourites tag belongs to the home team, Warriors come into the game off the back of four straight defeats, including at Chinnor in April in the first game after Vickers’ passing.

For Easter, the key to making it a hat-trick of wins over his former team will be to produce the level of physicality that has become the hallmark of this Chinnor side.

He added: “There is a different mentality with do-or-die rugby, but we have to stay true to our DNA, which has got us this far.

“We pride ourselves on our physicality in terms of giving nothing free to the opposition. And then it’s about being clinical, that has been the big thing. I don’t think we’ve been too clinical in the last two weeks. I think we’ve left a lot of tries out there. That is something that will be a bit of a focus.

"Coming into knockout rugby, it’s teams that take their chances that do well. We’ve got to be better in that area. Worcester are still the favourites, they are at home, they are the full-time side. I know we beat them twice, but they have got guys that have got a lot of experience of these sorts of games. There is a bit more expectation but we have got to embrace that.

“We know how to beat them but they also know how we have won so they will spend a bit of time on the forensic detail making sure it doesn’t happen a third time. It makes it very hard to beat anyone three times in a season.”