Santiago Medrano: Worcester Warriors sign Argentina prop from Western Force

Santiago Medrano made his international debut against Wales in June 2018 and played in all four of Argentina's group games at the 2019 Rugby World Cup

Premiership side Worcester Warriors have signed Argentina prop Santiago Medrano for the 2022-23 season.

The 25-year-old tight-head has won 30 caps and joins from Australian Super Rugby side Western Force.

Medrano is the fourth new signing made by Warriors' lead rugby consultant Steve Diamond before next season.

"He comes highly recommended, and at 25 years old with 30 caps under his belt has the ideal profile I am looking for to join the club," Diamond said.

Medrano moved to Western Force last year after three seasons with Jaguares - the former Argentinian franchise in Super Rugby.

"I'm delighted to be joining Worcester Warriors," Medrano said.

"From the moment I spoke with Steve, I knew this was the club for me. The Premiership is the best competition in the world. I cannot wait to meet my new team-mates and play in front of our fans at Sixways."

Medrano follows England hooker Curtis Langdon and back row forward Cameron Neild from Sale, and lock Fergus Lee-Warner - his former team-mate at Western Force - to Sixways before next season as Diamond continues to reshape the squad before he takes over as director of rugby in the summer.

Making big names, not signing them

Speaking about his recruitment strategy, Diamond said the signings he has made so far fit the brief for the direction he wants to take Warriors in.

"The players I've selected to join us - I know some of them personally, others have been highly recommended to me and I've spent time on Zoom speaking to them about the project of making Worcester a highly competitive team in the Premiership and in Europe," he said.

"You want people who are between 24 and 28 if you can - in their prime, who have played 75% of the games wherever they've been.

"That allays your injury fears quite a lot.

"They've got to be good defensively and they've got to understand attack. If they're a forward they've got to be robust and abrasive within the laws of the game."

Diamond said his main aim is to qualify for the Heineken Champions Cup and has told the players who he thinks can get Warriors to that point that they are staying, and the rest informed they will be leaving.

"The players that are coming in - some of them are not massive names but the skill of this job is making them into big names, not buying them," he said.

"I think Worcester have attempted to do that many times - just bringing in big household names who haven't really delivered - and that's not my bag.

"The bottom line of it comes down to stats - defensively and in attack - and the people coming in are statistically better players than those going out."

Warriors are currently next to bottom of the Premiership table, three points clear of Bath with four games of the regular season remaining.

Steve Diamond will replace Alan Solomons as director of rugby at Sixways at the end of the season

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