JOHN Brain believes tomorrow's trip to Saracens will be an acid test for his Worcester pack.

The Sixways director of rugby has been impressed with the Vicarage Road club's recruitment and is certain that the Premiership clash will demonstrate just how far his troops have come.

"In my opinion, Saracens have the best scrum in the Premiership and the players they have are virtually an international eight," he said.

"Our scrum didn't go well on Sunday against Newcastle so it will be an ideal test for the pack.

"We haven't had the best of luck with injuries so far because Chris Horsman has broken his hand and Neil Lyman has been struggling with this sternum injury.

"However, on Sunday against Newcastle, we took him off early for tactical reasons because things weren't going well for us in the scrum. He was still feeling the injury, however.

"Certainly we'll see after tomorrow whether we have improved in the scrum because Saracens will be a test.

"Their forwards made life extremely tough for Wasps on Saturday and will make life extremely tough for anybody in this division."

Meanwhile, Brain has explained his reasons for the appointment of Pat Sanderson as Worcester captain last Sunday.

"Ben Hinshelwood was named club captain in the summer but Sanderson would have still be skipper on Sunday even if Hinshelwood had of played.

"Just because Ben is club captain it doesn't mean that he'll be skipper every week," said Brain.

"We chose Pat because he could continue the dialogue with the referee throughout the match.

"Ben has a very important job to do in the game plan offensively and defensively while Pat's a proven captain. In the end, Ben didn't play but Pat would have still been named captain on the day."