The acquisition of Worcester Warriors has been successfully completed by the Atlas Group consortium led by Jim O’Toole.
The sale was confirmed by administrators Begbies Traynor to RUCK, with Atlas meeting the final sale deadline of May 2.
Worcester faced administration in September and subsequently dropped out of the Premiership, along with Wasps.
O’Toole, the former Warriors chief executive, and his consortium had initially agreed to purchase Worcester in February. However, the sale encountered various obstacles and delays.
Despite Steve Diamond’s rival consortium waiting to take over, O’Toole and ex-London Irish player James Sandford will now take charge of Sixways.
Worcester’s future remains uncertain, with Atlas declining to meet the RFU’s requirements, resulting in their non-participation in the second-tier Championship next season.
Atlas has proposed a merger with local level-five team Stourbridge, but RFU officials are reportedly not in favor of this idea.
“Horror draw” – England get pool of death in revised World Cup draw
The recently released World Rugby Rankings highlight the absurdity of the Pool Draw for the upcoming Rugby World Cup 2023, which was determined three years in advance and appears to be heavily skewed.
In response to criticism, World Rugby has announced that future pool draws for the Rugby World Cup will be conducted closer to the start of the tournament, as the current practice of relying on team rankings at the time of the draw is deemed unfair.
According to a report by the Mirror, World Rugby will make changes to the pool draw process for the 2027 edition.
“World Rugby said it is able to make the change because of a new ‘hosting model’ that sees the international federation create collaborations with the host union,” the report read.
“The top of the men’s Test game has never been more competitive,” the spokesperson added. “There has never been so much movement over a two-year period.
“Bearing that in mind and noting the format of four pools of five teams, there is arguably no perfect time for a draw.”
As a result, the guys over at Eggchasers Rugby put together their own drawer the 2023 tournament based on the current World Rugby rankings.
Concentrating on only the top 10 countries in the world, it looks significant.
It was very different with England handed a much sterner test in their pool. Watch the full video here.
POOL A actual draw:
- France
- New Zealand
POOL A up to date draw
- France
- Australia