MATTHEW Back has arrived to steady the ship at one of Worcester's problem positions -- full-back.

Last season the club tried a host of players at 15 and found an injury to just one player could leave them scratching their heads for a solution.

Twelve months ago they even went into their Premiership Two campaign without a recognised full-back due to a number of summer departures.

Tim Smith retired, John Liley left for Doncaster and stand-off Richard Le Bas, who had played at 15 at the end of the campaign, went to Leeds.

Rob Myler and trialist Stephen Morgan were tried out before Duncan Hughes stepped in for the August friendly at Cornwall and duly solved the problem.

The arrival of Sateki Tuipulotu saw Hughes dropped and his February departure to Bedford left Worcester short once more.

Now Back has arrived to add some experience to a position he will contest with the Tongan Tuipulotu.

The 29-year-old has played four times for Wales and his club services have seen him turn out for Bridgend, Swansea and Pontypridd.

He arrives at Sixways from Premiership One Bristol but is happy to drop down a division.

"I went to Bristol on a two-year and I have been there just a year but there was no guarantee of starting the games," he said. "I'm a bit long in the tooth to be on the bench too much, I want to play.

"Geoff (Cooke) said he wanted an experienced full-back and that I fitted the bill and the club is ambitious to get up to Premiership One."

Back has now played top level rugby in both England and Wales and feels a marriage of English discipline and Welsh flair would be perfect.

"The set up behind the scenes in England is more professional but Swansea, Llanelli and Cardiff would all do really well in England," he added. "Premiership One is not as hard as everyone says but it is very intense and there are no easy wins.

"In England the forwards are able to keep the ball alive more. There's indiscipline in the Welsh game but more flair so the ideal game would be to marry the two.

"Hopefully there will be more cross border games so the countries can learn from each other."