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Article by Sarah Griffiths featured on http://www.woodenspoon.com in February 2010

Sixways Supremo Joins Ambassador Programme

The relationship between the Guinness Premiership, its players and Spoon continues to grow with the addition of Warriors' talismanic skipper Pat Sanderson to the Wooden Spoon Ambassador programme.

Pat Sanderson with Spoon Worcester Chairman, John Gibson meet HRH Princess Royal at a recent open day at Worcester Warriors

Spoon invites people to become Ambassadors for many reasons not least in recognition of their support for Spoon over a sustained period of time. Already the Honorary President of Spoon Worcestershire Region, Pat has been helping the Spoon Worcestershire Committee for many years and as such is totally deserving of this accolade.

Sanderson was born in Chester in 1977. He started playing rugby at Bury Grammar School before joining Littleborough RUFC. He won his first England cap while at Kirkham Grammar School flanker for the England U16 Schools team. In 1996 he joined Manchester Sale (now Sale Sharks) where he was capped by England U21s and England A. 

In 1997 he won his first sevens cap debuting in Hong Kong. In 2003-04 he played in six of the IRB World Series rounds including the three wins in South Africa, Hong Kong and London. In 2002 he was also a member of England's Commonwealth Games squad in Manchester.

Pat won his first full international cap on England's 1998 southern hemisphere tour as a 20-year-old, facing New Zealand twice and South Africa, and he won another three caps on the 2001 tour to North America.

He played at Harlequins for a few seasons before moving to Worcester Warriors for the 2003/4 season as captain. His consistent performance in the premiership resulted in an international recall for the autumn test opener against Australia in November 2005. Despite some impressive performances in those Autumn Internationals and being made captain for England's tour to Australia in 2006, he fell out of favour with England.

Sanderson is an established and firm favourite at Worcester Warriors - both of the supporters and the club, and is fondly referred to as 'Captain Fantastic'. He has played over 150 top flight games and scored more than 20 tries for Worcester and has again being named as club captain for the 2009/10 season.

Spoon Worcestershire Chairman John Gibson commented, "Pat will be an excellent Ambassador for Spoon. He is a leader on the pitch and shows the same qualities off the pitch. He is genuinely interested in what the Regional Committee is doing and helps out when possible. We have recently supported a Spoon Community Rugby programme at Warriors and Pat and the team took an active role in the progress of the youngsters. Worcester is fortunate to have a player and captain of such qualities and Spoon is fortunate to have him as an Ambassador."