KAI Horstmann will make his full debut for Worcester Warriors in Sunday's dust-up with Premiership champions Wasps.

The 24-year-old replaces number eight Drew Hickey who has been struggling with a shoulder injury.

The good news for Warriors is that prop Chris Horsman has recovered from a twisted ankle to take his place in the starting line-up.

Nicolas Le Roux retains his place at full-back, while Thinus Delport starts on the bench.

James Brown is not in the squad of 22, which means that Shane Drahm contin-ues his half-back pairing with Andy Gomarsall.

Meanwhile skipper Pat Sanderson has warned his team-mates they need to be at their very best if they are to overcome the three-times champions.

Sanderson has identified the pace of England wings Tom Voyce and Paul Sackey as the greatest threat to Worcester's unbeaten start and also regards full-back Mark van Gisbergen as a big danger.

"They are a formidable team, especially at home," he said. "They've got a huge amount of attacking potential there. You can't afford to miss tackles and you can't afford to make mistakes defensively."

Sanderson admits it is harder to spring a surprise against the big clubs now than it was in Warriors' rookie Premiership campaign.

He said: "From our perspective, this season was definitely going to be tougher. We are not now an unknown quantity. Sides have had a good look at us. They know how we play and sides are more prepared for us."

The 27-24 win at Sixways helped turn Worcester's season around and they almost repeated the trick in High Wycombe in April.

Warriors were on top for much of the game before eventually losing 32-17 after Sanderson was sent to the sin bin.

He said: "They were on fire at that point. They came at us everywhere. It was like there were 30 of them.

"I think, for about 60 minutes, we were competitive. But that is the problem with a team like Wasps. If you play for 70 minutes you lose by 20 points. You've got to play for 85 minutes.

"There is not one point in the game when you can relax or have a weak moment. They are ruthless but you would expect that from champions."

Worcester: Le Roux, Hylton, Rasmussen, Lombard, Hinshelwood, Dr-ahm, Gomarsall, Windo, Van Niekerk, Horsman, Murphy, Gillies, Vaili, Sanderson, Horstmann. Replacements: Taumoepeau, Fortey, Collier, Tuamoheloa, Powell, Trueman, Delport.