John Brain has challenged his side to avoid being stung and record a first Premiership home victory of the season as the clock ticks down to the crunch clash with London Wasps.
Warriors have been victorious in Wasps’ last two Friday night visits to Sixways, but the Londoners edged a narrow 19-14 win in a fixture at Adams Park earlier this month.
Both Premiership giants go into the clash after confidence-boosting results in Europe.
But Director of Rugby, John Brain, believes Worcester can chalk up a vital win if they continue the form of recent weeks.
“We have not won at home in the Premiership this season and they have struggled away. We have got to put that right there are no bones about it.
“Our focus in heavily on this relegation situation, they are in the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup and come off the back of a couple of good victories. Clearly it is not as important a game for them as it is for us.
“Wasps could come to Sixways and want to run us ragged or they could come with the intention of roughing us up before doing that. We have got to be prepared for both.
“If we do not win we are relying on other people losing and we don’t want that. The next two home games are very significant – all our home games until the end of the season have taken on a huge significance.”
New signing Dominic Feaunati could feature in the clash after being named on the bench.
And Brain believes the Samoan international will fit into the Worcester style of play.
“We knew that when he became available and was looking for a move that he was the sort of player that would give us one or two aspects that we are lacking in midfield – strong ball carrying options and the ability to play on the wing.
“He has got the ability to off-load in the tackle because he is strong in contact – that will be a bonus for our back row because we have got players who will live off that. He’ll fit well into our style.
“He has done well in the Premiership in the last 18 months and although London Irish have spent a lot of money in midfield positions in the games he has played, he has done well.”
Warriors line-up for the Guinness Premiership game against Wasps shows one change from the side that started the last Premiership match against the same opposition just under three weeks ago.
For the return clash, Aisea Havili comes in on the right-wing with South African international Thinus Delport moving to the bench.
“The last two Premiership games we’ve played we have performed well and we just need to maintain that, we know if we do we have a very good chance of winning,” added Brain.
Team: 01 Darren Morris, 02 Chris Fortey, 03 Chris Horsman, 04 Tim Collier, 05 Craig Gillies, 06 Drew Hickey, 07 Pat Sanderson, 08 Kai Horstmann, 09 Matt Powell, 10 James Brown, 11 Marcel Garvey, 12 Gary Trueman, 13 Dale Rasmussen, 14 Aisea Havili, 15 Shane Drahm
Replacements: 16 Aleki Lutui 17 Tevita Taumoepeau, 18 Phil Murphy, 19 Tom Harding, 20 Ryan Powell, 21 Dominic Feaunati, 22 Thinus Delport