Scott Baldwin is to resume his rugby career in Wales with the Ospreys after his release from Worcester Warriors on compassionate grounds.
Warriors agreed to the Wales international’s departure from Sixways earlier this month amid a serious illness in the 33-year-old’s family.
The 34-cap hooker wanted to spend more time with his close family in Wales, and Worcester supported his request to return home. He has signed a contract that ties him to the Swansea.com Stadium region until the end of the 2022-23 season.
He heads back to the Ospreys after three years in English rugby, with his second stint at the south-west Wales region starting with immediate effect.
Baldwin spent a decade with them up to 2019, when he left for Harlequins. He won a Gallagher Premiership title with the Londoners last year during a campaign that saw him consistently deliver.
Now he’s back with the region for whom he made 165 appearances before his English adventure.
He said: “I am very grateful to the Ospreys for stepping in and offering me the chance to resume my career in Wales. They are my home region and I have always been an Ospreys supporter.
“It is where I established myself and I still have good friends at the Ospreys.
“Having worked with Toby Booth before, I know what he expects and look forward to playing my role within the team and to develop the younger players.
“But my mindset is to be the number one hooker at the Ospreys. I know no other way and everyone can see the changes at the region and how things have really started to move forward.”
His acquisition is timely for the Ospreys.
They have lost two hookers to premature retirements as players over the past year in the shape of Scott Otten and Ifan Phillips, with the latter seeing his career ended after a motorbike crash.
The Ospreys have Dewi Lake in the Wales squad, while Elvis Taione has been a success since joining from Exeter Chiefs and Sam Parry has also kept his standards high, but Booth needs an extra No. 2 to cover for injuries and Test calls.
Baldwin saying he wants to be number one at the region is what you’d expect from a competitive player who was Wales’ first-choice in his position at the 2015 World Cup and hit career-best form in the season before he left the Ospreys.
Ospreys head coach Booth said: “Everyone knows the tragic circumstances around Ifan Phillips that means the Ospreys require cover at hooker. With Dewi Lake being called up to the Wales squad, we need strengthening in that position.
“Scott will bring a wealth of experience of international rugby and of playing in the English Premiership. He also knows what it means to represent his home region.”
It’s not inconceivable that Baldwin will interest Wales again at some point, though the hooker’s first priority will be to nail down a regular spot with the Ospreys.
To get the latest rugby news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox, you can sign up for our Welsh rugby newsletter.
