Warriors boss Mike Ruddock has warned his players to expect a strong physical challenge when Worcester tackle Bucuresti in the opening European Challenge Cup clash on Saturday.
Worcester’s players have jetted out today to Romania to face a tricky Pool 2 clash in the Arcul de Triumf Stadium.
And Director of Rugby Ruddock has promised his side will not underestimate a side that are rank outsiders to progress past the group stages.
“They are a talented side in terms of their home record and have given quite a few teams a tough time over there,” he said.
“I think they will be very physical and they will be a difficult challenge for us away from home. They score a lot of tries and we’d like to think we can play the rugby that will beat them, but it won’t be easy.
“We’ve not under-estimated them at all, hence our team selection. We want to do well in this competition and want to improve with every game.”
Ruddock has made four changes for the clash with Shane Drahm returning at fly half after his impressive showing in the Guinness A League victory over Leicester Tigers on Monday night.
“In fairness to Shane, he has always wanted to play as a 10 ideally. Obviously we felt early in the season it was in the interests of the team that he continued to be considered as a full-back as well,” he said.
“He didn’t play particularly well against the Ospreys and we spoke about it afterwards. Shane got dropped after that game and I felt it was only right he should get some game time as a 10 to respond and I think he responded in the right way with a really good performance against Leicester for the ‘A’ team.
“He was a major catalyst in why we got back on track – he really got the line going and brought the flow to our game that we were after.
“We’ve got a few guys out, so there are a few of the younger players in the squad. Dale Rasmussen is out with a foot injury that he has been carrying for a while.
“We’ve moved Loki Crichton to inside centre because Dominic Feaunati has an ongoing hamstring injury. Netani Talei has a side injury and Matt Mullan comes in on the bench for Tony Windo.”