Warriors Sign Joe Batley

Bristol Bears second-rower Joe Batley has signed a one-year deal for Warriors and will join the club on 1 July.

The 23 year old, who is also a useful loose-forward, joins Wasps fly-half Billy Searle and Chiefs forward Matt Kvesic as the Warriors’ new acquisitions.  

Batley was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2017 while playing for Bristol which, obviously, halted his career somewhat. He was, however, given the green light to play after a tough course of chemotherapy and was loaned out to Leicester Tigers before the Covid-19 pandemic forced the lockdown.

The 6f 6ins youngster has previously represented England at U18 and U21 level.

“We are delighted to welcome Bats to Sixways. He is a big, athletic, young English lock, who has gained representative honours for England at age grade level,” said Warriors Director of Rugby Alan Solomons, “He is also a first-class bloke who I look forward to working with.”

“From the conversations I have had with Solly, he’s got a very good vision about what he wants the club to achieve and I want to be part of that.” Batley said.