Matt Kvesic: Ex-Worcester Warriors player sad over old club but ‘excited’ at Coventry move

Former Worcester Warriors flanker Matt Kvesic says he is still “gutted” about the demise of his old club but is keen to move on to an “exciting” future with Coventry in the Championship.

Kvesic is back in English rugby after spending most of last season in Italy with Zebre following Warriors’ move into administration in September.

The 31-year-old has signed for Coventry for at least the 2023-24 campaign.

“I’m really excited to be part of a young growing team at Cov,” he said.

Fortunately for Kvesic, who has won four England caps, he did not have to wait long for a club to come with an offer for him to play in the United Rugby Championship with Zebre in November.

“It doesn’t seem like a year ago. It’s bizarre. I think rollercoaster is the best word for it,” Kvesic told BBC Hereford and Worcester.

“It has been a tough time and lot of uncertainly and you had to make decisions. The Zebre offer came up – it wasn’t something I was expecting but it was an opportunity to experience something different.”

The demise of Warriors, where Kvesic came through the academy system and had two spells at Sixways in between four seasons with Gloucester and two and a half at Exeter, proved a stressful situation for Kvesic and all the players and staff.

“It was really tough because there was always a carrot dangling that there might be this – or that might happen,” he said.

“Every week it was like ‘this isn’t great but this could happen’. We had two or three months of that.

“We went into administration and everyone was panicking and it was ‘there are these new buyers and they’re going to come in and do this and this’ and none of that came to fruition.

“It sounds a little bit bad but I’m kind of over it all. I need to move on and focus on other things but I’m obviously still gutted over how it all finished.”

Although Warriors were eventually bought out of administration by new owners Atlas Group in February, the last three months have not brought much clarity over the former Premiership club’s future.

Tenancy deals for the use of Sixways for local football side Worcester Raiders and Premier 15s side Worcester Warriors Women have been agreed.

Kvesic gets a constant reminder of the troubled times at Sixways on regular journeys to drop his young son off at school nearby.

“I drive past Sixways all the time and it still feels weird – I still get a sad feeling when I go past. It doesn’t seem in a great position.

“Atlas have had a lot of plans and ideas that haven’t come to fruition for whatever reason which is a shame and the sad reality is there isn’t going to be a competitive men’s team at Worcester Warriors and Sixways.”

Despite co-owner Jim O’Toole saying there was “no reason for a new Worcester Warriors to go to the bottom of the rugby pyramid” as it stands, there has been no official confirmation from either Stourbridge or Worcester on whether the merger is going ahead.

Kvesic, who had a short stint with Stour on a dual-registration basis as a teenager, says he can see both sides of the argument over Atlas’ plan.

“It’s a tricky one. Personally, I find it a bit strange – taking over another team doesn’t sit right with me,” he said.

“Stourbridge are an old club and have history themselves, however, if there’s an option to bring that team back up quickly into the Championship, then I understand the reasoning behind it. It would have been really great to have done that ourselves as Worcester Warriors.

“I understand they want to get [men’s] rugby back into Sixways as quickly as possible and I presume it’s either start at level 10 or start with Stourbridge.

“Do I like the idea? No, not really. Do I understand it as a business proposition? Yes I do.

“It would’ve been great to have Worcester Warriors back up and running in whatever format. This may be the next best thing unfortunately.”

Kvesic’s move to Italy did offer him a way out of all the chaos at Sixways and he said a change of scenery did help him switch off from all the drama going on at his old club.

“We all have social media so you can’t escape it fully but I always wanted to go and experience something different,” he said.

“I had the chance to go to the URC and go and experience a new country and culture and have a different perspective on how rugby’s played the Italian way – which is very different.

“It was a great experience – longevity-wise, it was never going to work without the family but there was an element where I could just get stuck into something else.

“It was a way of forgetting everything. To be over there and focussing on things like trying to pick up the language and driving on the wrong side of the road – it was definitely an experience I won’t forget.”

Now Kvesic’s sole focus is on his immediate future at the Butts Park Arena and trying to help Coventry build on their excellent 2022-23 season in which they finished third in the Championship.

Title winners Jersey, who pipped Ealing by two points, were denied a place in the top flight because their home ground does not meet the Premiership’s minimum standard capacity of 10,000 and, with no automatic promotion or relegation for 2023-24, Kvesic says sides in the second tier need more of an incentive to invest.

“I’m competitive and I’d love to play the highest level of rugby I can and would love to do that with Coventry – but I don’t know what that would look like.

“Whether that will even be possible… because the RFU don’t know what it’s going to look like, let alone the Championship clubs.

“Relegation and promotion shouldn’t be scrapped. Jersey won the league this season but you’ll never see another Exeter-type situation. Who knows if Jersey could’ve done that? Or Ealing or Coventry next year?”

Kvesic says he thinks teams in the Championship will “drift away” if funding is reduced because of the lack of opportunity to go up, which could lead to “a weaker league”.

“At the moment it’s growing. The top three teams are pushing and it’s a shame Jersey won’t get the chance to test themselves in the top league.”