ANDY Keast is "hopeful" that Uche Oduoza will make the full-time switch to Sixways.

Worcester Warriors' head coach, who picked out the youngster last season during a second team encounter, believes the 18-year-old has "massive" potential in the game should he choose to go full-time.

The winger, who is still at school, is still weighing up his future but Worcester -- after taking him on an academy contract -- hope he will continue with rugby and instead of a career in medicine.

Keast believes that the lure of top flight rugby could sway Oduoza who scored a hat-trick on his first-team debut on Saturday in the European Shield against Rovigo.

"I'm hopeful that he'll come on board," said Keast.

"He's only been playing the sport a couple of years so it shows that he's a real natural talent. He's got pace, power -- he's a natural athlete -- but what's encouraging is that he also reads the game well for someone with such limited experience.

"He has massive potential and the thought of getting him for a pre-season and coaching him full-time is exciting because we've never been able to do that before.

"He's got a decision to make but, after playing in the Commonwealth Youth Games in Australia and at Twickenham, that experience really whets the appetite."

Meanwhile, James Brown could make a sensational comeback against his former club on Saturday.

The fly-half, who played 40 minutes against Rovigo at the weekend after a neck problem, showed no ill-effects in training yesterday and, should he come through unscathed this week, Brown looks set to start against London Irish.

"I think James did really well considering he's been out since October. He ran the game well in the second half against Rovigo. Certainly, if he comes through this week without any reaction, he could be involved against London Irish."

Ben Hinshelwood, though, looks unlikely to play any part in the Powergen Cup sixth round clash at Sixways.

The Scottish international saw a specialist last week over his niggling back problem and the centre was told that rest was the only cure.

Hinshelwood sat out Worcester's runaway win over Rovigo and Keast is determined to give the Sixways skipper every chance to recover.

"Rest is doing him good so we've sent him away," added Keast.

"In an ideal world he will rest and sit out Saturday's game. We have to be careful with Ben and go with the advice."