Champ Rugby winners Worcester Warriors have appointed former England, Harlequins and Wasps forward Joe Launchbury as their new head of academy.
The 35-year-old retired from playing at the end of the regular Prem season after three years with Quins and 51 appearances.
Launchbury won 70 caps for England, winning the Six Nations title three times and playing in two World Cups.
The bulk of his playing career was spent with Wasps, where he made more than 150 appearances in two spells.
He was with the club as it went into administration in October 2022, shortly after Worcester suffered the same fate before Warriors returned to the sport at the start of last season.
Worcester's first campaign back was a spectacular success on the field, with them thrillingly beating season-long Champ leaders Ealing on their way to winning the play-off final.
Launchbury said he was "really honoured" to get the job adding Worcester was "a club with a huge amount of history, especially in the academy area".
"Working with the next generation, working with these younger players definitely excites me, and the opportunity to come here to Worcester was something I didn't want to turn down," he told the club website.
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The establishing of an academy is one of the pre-requisites for a side planning to apply for a place in the Prem, which is set for expansion from the 2029-30 season.
Warriors chief executive Stephen Vaughan, who has said the club are in "no rush" to return to the top flight in the immediate future, said Launchbury was "the ideal person" to run the academy because of his "outstanding playing career, leadership qualities, and deep understanding of player development".
"We look forward to the impact he will make across talent ID and our player pathway programme," Vaughan added.

