WORCESTER Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan said he will not consider any offers from Aviva Premiership clubs to take full back Chris Pennell on loan next season.
The 27-year-old has been a shining light in Warriors’ sorry season and his performances have led Ryan to get behind his case for a place in the England team.
A campaign in the Championship is likely to all but end Pennell’s hopes of challenging for a place in Stuart Lancaster’s Rugby World Cup squad in 2015.
However, Ryan insisted Pennell, who signed a three-year deal at the club, would remain at Warriors as they bid to bounce back at the first time of asking.
“Everybody is desperate to get this place in the right sort of environment so that we can come back to the Premiership and be successful,” he said. “That does not involve going off and playing for someone else and that applies to every single player.
“Chris is in a unique position because he is such a quality player, but we are not considering any loan moves for him and we have not had any conversations with anybody that has expressed an interest or with any international management that think it is in his best interest to go elsewhere.”
The Warriors boss said a number of his players also had a long way to go before they can consider themselves to be in the running for international honours.
“As we saw against Saracens test match athletes are at a different level than this place and that’s fact,” he added. “We have only got Pennell who can match that, so this club needs to understand that to compete at that level they have got to get all their people at test level and the guys who are coming in understand that.
“Van Velze is probably a different animal as he is capable of playing for South Africa, but he is very focused on being an influential person in this environment.”
