RICHARD Hill has conceded his experiment with Joe Carlisle at full-back is over and Tom Arscott will be thrown the number 15 jersey for Sunday’s Championship trip to Nottingham (5.30pm).

Academy graduate Carlisle is undoubtedly a talented play-maker, but his skill-set has proven not to be suited to Warriors’ last line of defence.

Sixways head coach Hill admitted that while playing Carlisle at full-back was good to give the player game-time, he is worried about destroying his confidence by persisting in using him in an unfamiliar position.

Hill said: “I think it is a little bit unfair putting Joe at 15. He’s a very good 10 and I’ve wanted to put him in the team because he’s a good player and deserves to be in, but clearly full-back is not his best position.

“At 10, you’re in the game all the time and constantly making attack and defence decisions. At full-back, you’ve just got to come in and make the right decision every now and again.

“Mentally, it’s not as easy to play full-back as it is 10. It’s just a different position, at full-back you have to deal with a lot of kick-receipts, which you don’t at 10.

“You have to make the right decision when you receive that kick and 50 per cent of the time he made the right decision, but the other 50 were not right.

“You have to be very clear what you are doing and, unless you are a full-back and know what you’re doing, it can be tough.

“I think, to be fair to Joe, I won’t put him at full-back again. It’s unfair because he will only feel bad about himself if he doesn’t have a great game when I’m playing him out of position — it’s taken me a little while to realise that though.

“At least I’ve been able to keep him playing because, with Andy Goode at 10, you don’t want Joe just sat on the bench.

Hill added: “Tom did have a dip in form at full-back just before Christmas, but he’s thought long and hard about how he approaches the game. Now he has got that little bit of aggression back and is highly-motivated. He’ll be the right choice at full-back on Sunday.

“The only other change will perhaps be giving Bruce Douglas a go at tight-head. He’s been on the bench quite a bit recently, so we’ll start with him.”

Meanwhile, prop Matt Mullan and full-back Chris Pennell both joined in with their first full-contact training sessions yesterday as they step up their rehabilitation from long-term injuries.

Loosehead Mullan is further ahead than Warriors captain Pennell, though, and will start Tuesday’s re-arranged British & Irish Cup match at Currie.