WARRIORS hope to have a new signing in place for their crucial Guinness Premiership games over Christmas after opening talks with an overseas player.

Worcester's director of rugby John Brain has been looking for a replacement for versatile back Ben Hinshelwood, who retired from professional rugby two weeks ago.

If negotiations are successful then the new man could be available for the visit of Bath on Boxing Day.

Brain's midfield options have become limited with Dale Rasmussen and Gary Trueman both spending time on the treatment table in recent weeks.

The good news is that Rasmussen has recovered from a calf strain and will be available to face Connacht in Saturday's European Cup match.

Trueman is also making good progress after ankle surgery and is set to return by the end of the year.

One man who won't be making the trip to Ireland is Phil Murphy, who has suffered a re-occurrence of the Achilles problem that has been troubling him for a number of weeks. His place in the second row will be taken by Tim Collier.

Prop Chris Horsman limped off during Saturday's home match with Connacht but he is set to feature in the return fixture.

Siaosi Vaili has missed Worcester's last three games after returning to his native Samoa because of a family bereavement but is now available for selection.

Youngsters Uche Oduoza and Simon Whatling are also set to be involved in Galway after impressive performances last week. Oduoza has started all three of Worcester's European games on the wing and he caused plenty of problems for the Irish side with his explosive pace.

"I thought he did some pretty good stuff with the ball," said Brain. "He's strong and powerful and I thought his performance was a step up from what we've seen so far this season.

"He has still got a lot of development in him but he probably had his best game of the season against Connacht. It will be a test on Saturday for him."

Another to catch the eye in the Sixways match was scrum-half Matt Powell, who was given the chance to crank the pressure up on Andy Gomarsall.

"I thought Matt did pretty well and it was a measure of how well he did that we didn't think of taking him off," said Brain.

"The reason he started was that he's lacked starts with what might be termed as our front-line players."