Worcester Warriors have picked from a near injury-free squad for the visit of Guinness Premiership champions Sale to Sixways, tomorrow (Friday).
Winger Aisea Havili returns to action following a shoulder injury for the first time this season, and Ryan Powell is due to make his Guinness Premiership debut at scrum-half in a line-up that features four changes from the team that started against Newcastle, a week ago.
01 Darren Morris, 02 Chris Fortey, 03 Chris Horsman, 04 Craig Gillies, 05 Phil Murphy, 06 Pat Sanderson, 07 Tom Harding, 08 Drew Hickey, 09 Ryan Powell, 10 Shane Drahm, 11 Marcel Garvey, 12 Thomas Lombard, 13 Dale Rasmussen, 14 Aisea Havili, 15 Lee Best
Replacements: 16 Tevita Taumoepeau, 17 Ben Gotting, 18 Richard Blaze, 19 Kai Horstmann, 20 Matt Powell, 21 Simon Whatling, 22 Thinus Delport
“There were signs during the Newcastle game that we are getting our game back on track, so we’ve got to build on that, improve our performance and look to get a result,” says Warriors’ director of rugby, John Brain. “Sale are a complete team, but really we’re not focussed on them. We need to improve with each game and we know that, if we do, we’ll get to where we want to go.”
New arrival Aleki Lutui will watch from the stands, however. The Tongan hooker arrived in Worcester on Tuesday, but Brain says it’s too early for him to be considered.
“We have an A game against Leeds on Monday night and, following that, he’ll be in contention for selection. He’s likely to be playing in that game.”
So far as the treatment table’s concerned, Warriors have only one injury problem, loose-head prop Tony Windo, who has had a back operation this week and will be out for eight to 12 weeks.