MATT Mullan and Miles Benjamin have been ruled out of the rest of the season for Worcester Warriors.

The pair need shoulder surgery and will not feature in the Sixways side’s battle for survival in the Guinness Premiership.

Warriors, currently bottom of the table, have four games left to save their top-flight status, starting with the visit of London Irish on Saturday (3pm).

But they will have to do it without England prop Mullan and wing Benjamin, while full-back Chris Pennell faces at least two weeks on the sidelines with the fractured jaw sustained in the 17-3 loss at Sale Sharks.

Mullan, capped by his country against Italy in the Six Nations, had surgery on both shoulders at the end of last season but it is the left which requires attention this time.

Benjamin was injured during the defeat to Leicester Tigers and the England Saxons star failed a fitness test ahead of the Sale match.

Director of rugby Mike Ruddock said: “For Matt in particular, and hopefully for Miles as well, next season is a massive one with the World Cup at the end of it. Matt knows he’s got to get it sorted now and get his strength back. That gives him every chance of trying to be a candidate for the World Cup and I fully expect him to be there.

“It’s a shame because I know after winning his first international cap he was ear-marked to go on the summer tour to Australia but that won’t happen now.

“The key thing with both those guys is we’ll have them fit and raring to go for the start of next season.”

Ruddock has also pointed to the availability of props Adam and Callum Black, winger Marcel Garvey and utility back Rico Gear.

He added: “This is a huge collision-based sport and there’s no team in the league who is going to go through the season without people being operated on or missing games for long periods. That’s why you try to develop a squad.

“When you look at the quality of guys we’ve got then there’s no reason why we can’t keep a high level of performance going.”

The first test of that comes against a London Irish side beaten 33-22 at Wasps last time out.

Ruddock said: “We’ve beaten them already at home in the LV= Cup and we’ve drawn at the Madejski. It’s up to us to make sure we get that level of performance.”

Meanwhile, Warriors number eight Matt Kvesic featured for England under 18s as they completed their third successive Grand Slam.