WARRIORS director of rugby John Brain is confident that Tony Windo can step up to the mark while skipper Pat Sanderson is on England duty.

Veteran prop Windo has been handed the captaincy for the Guinness Premiership battle with Leicester Tigers at Sixways tonight (8pm) after Sanderson was named in England's 22 to face Australia.

And Brain is adamant the 36-year-old will not let anyone down.

"Tony is a key decision-maker on the field in terms of the line-out and the set-pieces," he said. "He's a natural choice to be captain."

Warriors were rudderless without Sanderson and Windo in their European Challenge Cup match against Amatori Catania at the weekend and only just edged past the Sicilian whipping boys.

"It's no accident we performed the way we did without Tony and Pat on Saturday," said Brain.

"They are two guys who are mentally tough and who go on the field with a winning attitude. We have other strong-minded players in the backs but those two galvanise our forwards.

"It's a big boost to have Tony back in the team and I'm sure he'll do an excellent job."

Windo will be renewing acquaintances with Tigers tight-head Alex Moreno who played for Worcester in Division One.

"I used to live with Ben Hinshelwood and I'm still good mates with Tony Windo," said Moreno. "I'm looking forward to scrumming against Tony.

"Worcester have a heavy pack and they work hard up front."

Both sides expect a physical contest but Brain wants to ensure that Tigers do not over-step the mark.

"The first thing to do is talk to the referee about Leicester," he said. "They do play the laws to their absolute limit and we were extremely unhappy with the way the game was refereed when we played them in the Powergen Cup.

"What you need when you play Leicester is an extremely strong ref."

Tigers will be without a number of international stars including England players Martin Corry and Harry Ellis. But they have a strong bench that features Ollie Smith, Andy Goode and another former Warrior, Neil Cole.

"We don't underestimate the size of the task. But we are at home and we expect to do well," said Brain.