Worcester Warriors: Players among staff furloughed by Premiership club

Worcester were 10th in the Premiership table when the season was suspended because of coronavirus

Worcester Warriors are to furlough players and other staff during the coronavirus pandemic to avoid "significant wholesale redundancies".

The Warriors will apply to the government's Job Retention Scheme to ensure a percentage of salaries are covered while the measure is in place.

But the club say some staff, considered essential workers, will continue to work as normal from their homes.

Bath and newly-promoted Newcastle have already applied similar measures.

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Meanwhile, Northampton and London Irish players are among those to have taken a drop in salary.

"We hope that these measures will help us to protect the jobs of our loyal and dedicated staff in these unprecedented times," Worcester said in a statement.

"We thank our staff for their understanding and patience in difficult circumstances.

"When rugby does resume we want to ensure that normal service is restored as quickly as possible and that we can help to put smiles back on the faces of our supporters, commercial partners and all visitors to Sixways."

Worcester's stadium has been locked down since the Premiership was suspended.