Ellis Genge hopes Worcester players avoid ‘gruesome’ outcome amid crisis

England prop Ellis Genge hopes players from crisis club Worcester do not get “shafted” after saying friends were hit hard financially by Premiership Rugby’s salary cap.

Worcester’s players and staff must wait to discover their fate, with the Gallagher Premiership club reportedly on the brink of administration after a winding-up petition over unpaid tax was issued by HM Revenue & Customs.

Former Worcester chief executive Jim O’Toole is spearheading a newly-formed consortium with investment from a US company to save the club from administration.

But the future of the Warriors, who include current England internationals Ollie Lawrence and Ted Hill, remains uncertain.

New Bristol signing Genge said: “I’ve got a few mates there and I messaged Ollie and said: ‘Are you OK?’ He said there’s been some discrepancies with their pay and stuff like that. It’s bleak.

“I’d like to see Worcester stay in the Prem. It’s a good club, and hopefully they can sort it out.

“I just feel everything is always on everyone else’s terms (and not the players). I feel we’re extremely vulnerable in that situation.

Hopefully those boys (Worcester players) don't get shafted because that would be absolutely gruesome- Ellis Genge

“I’ve been told Bristol handled that Covid period really well, but as you’ve seen in recent years contracts have been literally paper-thin.

“They didn’t mean much, and hopefully those boys don’t get shafted because that would be absolutely gruesome.”

Premiership clubs decided to reduce the £6.4million salary cap in place for the 2020-21 campaign to £5m for last season.

The reduction came in the wake of Saracens being relegated from the top flight in 2020 for past breaches of the cap, and the financial impact of the Covid-19