Willi Heinz will swap Gloucester for Worcester Warriors at the end of the season.
As revealed by The Rugby Paper on Sunday, the England scrum-half has signed a two-year deal with the option of an additional year tailored towards a coaching role.
Heinz becomes the fifth signing announced by Worcester for the start of the 2021-22 season, after fellow scrum-half Will Chudley, wing Duhan van der Merwe, and props Christian Judge and Jack Owlett.
The 34-year-old qualified for England selection through his English grandmother, and subsequently featured in Eddie Jones‘ World Cup squad for the tournament in Japan in 2019.
Capped 13 times, Heinz will be drafted into the Worcester squad as a replacement for South Africa-bound current No.9 Francois Hougaard.
Having lost the Gloucester captaincy at the start of the season to Lewis Ludlow, Heinz said: “I’ve really enjoyed my six seasons at Gloucester Rugby, and would like to thank the fans, my fellow players, the coaches and support staff, as well as Martin [St. Quinton] and the other board members.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at what is an iconic club in English rugby. I still am entirely committed to the team until the end of the season, and hope that before it ends, we can run out in front of fans at Kingsholm once more.
“It’s been a great honour having had the opportunity to Captain the side, and my family and I have made friends for life during our time at Kingsholm.”
The veteran’s career was spent with the Crusaders in Super Rugby prior to his switch to Kingsholm in 2015.
Gloucester head coach George Skivington commented: “Willi has been a great player for the Club, and although he’s not played as much as he’d like to have done during my time here, he is the consummate professional and we know that he will be committed to end his time at Kingsholm on a high.
“We respect his decision to leave for pastures new, and when the times comes, we will wish him all the best for his new challenge.
“We’re fortunate in having several exciting young scrum halves in the squad and we’re sure they’ll play a big part in our success in coming seasons.”
