DIRECTOR of rugby Alan Solomons appears to have distanced Warriors from re-signing lock Will Spencer.

The Rugby Paper reported the popular 27-year-old, who left Worcester for Leicester in 2018 “could make the return when his contract runs out at the end of this season”.

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The talk prompted online excitement from fans but sources close to Sixways suggest the link is wide of the mark.

And while Solomons stopped short of ruling out a comeback for a player who was called up to an England training camp while with Warriors, highlighting the bounty of talent he already has in Spencer’s position felt like a pretty broad hint.

“Will has not been signed by the club,” said Solomons.

“He is a terrific bloke and a terrific player, I really enjoyed working with him but he has not been signed.”

He added he “would never” rule out the move entirely but when asked if there were any plans to strike a deal, Solomons replied: “No, that’s where we are.

“We have some very good young locks coming through – Andrew Kitchener, Justin Clegg, James Scott – and we have Graham (Kitchener) and Bressy (Anton Bresler) both under contract.”

Friday sees Warriors tackle a do-or-die European Challenge Cup Pool One decider against Castres at Sixways (8pm).

A bonus-point win would give Worcester a fighting chance of a last-eight berth, probably as one of the three best pool runners-up.

Dragons, currently tied with Worcester on 15 points in the standings, host rock-bottom Enisei-STM at the same time and would hold the edge if the rivals end up level by virtue of registering a losing bonus point at Sixways.

In the event of a tie, the team with the highest number of points from the fixtures against one another heads through but victory without conceding a bonus or a five-point haul without Castres picking up two would hand Warriors the edge over the French side in the final reckoning.

“We freshened things up a little bit for the last game and we will probably look to bring back some players. We will certainly be making some changes,” added Solomons.

On the European campaign, he said: “It has been good in parts. We have played well at times and perhaps not so well at others.

“I think neither of our away performances against Castres and Dragons were up to the mark, we would have liked better performances in those games but we have done reasonably well at home.

“The lads did well (against Enisei on Saturday) and one must give credit to them. You can only play what’s in front of you, it is as simple as that.

“We have come into the back end of the competition with a chance to qualify and that is a positive.”