Young Gun: Will Butler – England U20s centre
The Worcester centre suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery while making his first team debut in the Challenge Cup against Enisei in Moscow.
But after an intensive three-month rehabilitation programme, Butler made his return last month and has started at inside centre for England U20s over the past couple of weeks.
“I’m very happy to have started the first two games of the Six Nations especially after just coming back from my injury,” he told The Rugby Paper.
“Hopefully I can keep my spot for the remainder of the tournament.
“Returning in time for the Six Nations was always my target. I spoke to the physios at the club and we thought it was a realistic time scale so we planned for it.
“I played a couple of games for the U18s last month to give my shoulder a test and it held up well. I actually had to make a lot of tackles in my first outing so it was great to come out of it unscathed.
“Playing in Moscow for my first team debut for Worcester was great. I’d never been to Russia before so it was a big game for me.
“I managed to play 50-odd minutes but unfortunately that’s when I did my shoulder.
“It was a bitter-sweet experience but making my debut for the first team easily overshadowed the injury.
“Being my first year in the full-time academy at the Warriors I never gave myself the target of playing for the first team as early as October.
“My only target was to make a big impression with the coaches and see where it’d take me. But I ended playing for the Cavaliers in the A-League and I got my shot in the Challenge Cup.”
Butler, a gifted second playmaker rather than a bruising ball carrier, only joined the Warriors academy full-time last summer after leaving Hereford Cathedral School.
Making the physical step-up to senior rugby was at the top of his to-do-list and his injury allowed him to put in the hours in the gym.
He added: “Worcester noticed me when I was 14 playing for school and it went from there. I went through the ranks and I’m now in the senior academy.
“Training full-time is definitely different from being at school but I’m enjoying it a lot. I haven’t written a paragraph in the past six months so it can’t be bad!
“There’s a good bunch of lads in the U20s coming from Worcester. Seeing guys like Jamie Shillcock playing so much for the first team is a great incentive for all the youngsters at the club to train hard.
“Spending some time injured allowed me to work hard in the gym to put on a bit of weight in order to be able to sustain the physical demands of the senior game.
“Now it’s all about getting used to it and pushing forward.”
NICK VERDIER
