FOUR years ago, Charlie Mulchrone was playing amateur rugby for Wilmslow as “a hobby”.

Making a living from the sport hadn’t crossed the scrum-half’s mind at step seven of the English league system.

Yet, a spell at Macclesfield and two years with Rotherham Titans later, the 25-year-old has secured his dream move to Worcester Warriors.

To say it has been a rapid rise for Mulchrone, whose brother Fergus plays for London Irish, would be an understatement.

He admits it wasn’t until last summer that he fell in love with rugby as a profession and he hasn’t looked back since.

Rotherham head coach Lee Blackett handed him the Titans captaincy and Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan swooped at the turn of the year.

Mulchrone said: “Rugby was always a hobby for me but the more I’ve got into it the more I’ve realised how much I enjoy the game and doing it as a job.

“My first few months at Rotherham were a bit difficult, I wasn’t playing much rugby at all, if any.

“I don’t think I played for the first 10 games, then finally got my chance and started playing a bit more regularly.

“Once I got into it, that was me sold.

“I’ve got to give thanks to Lee, he had a lot of confidence in me as a player and leader. Garry Law was the club captain, who the players really respected, but Lee wanted me to do the match-day stuff. “

Mulchrone continued: “It’s gone past in a blink. I went from Wilmslow to Macclesfield, on to Rotherham and then to Worcester.

“I had a meeting with Dean at Sixways and he laid out his vision and I was pretty much sold on the place straight away, I think I signed the next day.

“To come here is an absolute dream for myself.

“I never thought I’d do this as a job but since I’ve got into it, I can’t see myself doing anything else now.

“I absolutely love it and it’s something I want to do for a long, long time, as long as my body holds up.”

Warriors open their pre-season friendly programme a week tomorrow with a Friday night visit of Ospreys (7.30pm).

They then head to Sale Sharks on Saturday, August 23 (2pm), and host Exeter Chiefs on Friday, August 29 (7.30pm).