CHAIRMAN Bill Bolsover has praised Edward Griffiths for bringing a “family atmosphere” to Worcester Warriors and says he will continue to work closely with the club’s bosses.

The former Saracens chief executive arrived at Warriors in late January as a consultant on a short-term project to review the Sixways rugby operation.

He joined as part of a team with director of rugby Gary Gold who secured a one-year deal in April after guiding Worcester to safety.

While the former South Africa assistant coach got results on the pitch Griffiths, who previously worked with Gold at the Sharks, has been helping to keep players happy off it.

Bolsover said they were also keen to keep picking the brains of Griffiths who spent seven years as Saracens chief before leaving in 2015.

“Ed is still here,” Bolsover said. “He works as a consultant and adds some good value in terms of his experience with Saracens.

“He spends the majority of his time at the moment supporting Gary who he had worked with before, making sure the community side of our players is correct.

“That’s the side I felt was missing to start with and Ed has added real value in dealing with players’ wives and children and dealing with people when they come into the country so we create a real family atmosphere.

“But we are also using him where we can on the (commercial) side to support (new managing director) Gus (Mackay) and see if there are any ideas from Saracens we could use here.”

During Griffiths’ time at Sarries they moved to Allianz Park after playing for a number of years at Watford Football Club’s Vicarage Road ground.

They also won the Premiership in 2010-11 and reached the Heineken Cup final in 2014.

Griffiths is a former chief executive officer at the South African Rugby Union and ex-chairman of the South African Rugby Players' Association.

He was a member of the location local organising committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and a consultant for South Africa’s 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup bids.

Griffiths has been a representative for the South African cricket star AB de Villiers, who captains the national one-day team, since 2008.

He also worked as a writer and sports editor for the South African Sunday Times newspaper for almost six years.

“Ed has other roles,” Bolsover added. “He is involved with cricket, in writing and with this here.

“But I am very open in my management style and I said ‘You are here as a consultant so spend what time you need’ as we trust him.

“He is up here some days and not here other days but he is where we need him at any point in time.

“He might be here for two months or for two years.”