WORCESTER Warriors are close to agreeing new deals with fly-half Joe Carlisle and veteran props Adam Black and Tevita Taumoepeau.

The Sixways club are in advanced talks with the trio as head coach Richard Hill looks to get his first-choice players under contract before the Championship play-offs begin.

The Warriors boss also revealed that up to eight players will be leaving at the end of the season, with the same number likely to be brought in.

Hill said: “There is lots of work going on behind the scenes and we’re hoping to have something concrete by the end of this week. I am pretty certain we can still get our first-choice 22 contracted by the start of the play-offs.

“There are one or two that we are looking to tie down this week — I think Joe and Adam are two players we are very close to coming to an agreement with.

“We should be able to get those ironed out — along with Tevita. It takes a few weeks to resolve these situations, but we are very close with those three.”

He added: “We’ve started to talk to one or two of the players who won’t be getting new deals.

“It’s only fair to give them a warning, so they have been told they won’t be contracted for next year.

“It’s not a very nice part of the job, obviously, but it's only fair to them that we are open and honest so they can go and make plans elsewhere.

“I want to try and keep the vast majority of the current squad together, but there will be somewhere between six and eight who have to move out.”