WORCESTER director of rugby John Brain says there will be no champagne on ice at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday but admits it will be hard to ignore events from across the Thames Valley.

Brain's men go into the penultimate round of Guinness Premiership matches just two points ahead of bottom side Northampton and, before they line up against London Irish in Reading (3pm), there is the small matter of a meeting between Saints and London Wasps in High Wycombe (12.15pm).

"It will be unavoidable, we will know the result," said Brain.

"Some players may choose to watch the first-half on the television but, even if they don't do that, I am sure the stadium announcer will keep us updated with the scores as they happen.

"By the time we go out to warm up at 2.30pm, we will know the score."

Brain isn't worried about the affect the Wasps v Northampton match will have on his players and will not stop them tuning into Sky Sports to watch the first-half.

He added: "We were in a similar position at Gloucester when Northampton kicked off early at Leicester and won. I don't think that affected the performance of our guys at all.

"If Northampton were to lose that game then we are acutely aware that, by winning against Irish, we could possibly make ourselves safe," added Brain.

"If Northampton beat Wasps, it's a must-win game but we are treating it as a must-win game anyway."

Scrum-half Matt Powell has been named in the starting line-up for the match but is expected to have a last-minute fitness test on his injured ankle.

Brain admits the Welsh number nine was missed at Bristol but also praised the contribution of his replacement Nick Runciman.

"He did well, I just felt sometimes we missed Matt Powell because he is a very good tactical kicker for us and he helps us get a lot of position," said Brain.

"Occasionally we miss that but I thought Runciman did very well."