WORCESTER Warriors have been dealt a double blow ahead of their trip to Leicester Tigers.

Centres Thomas Lombard and Dale Rasmussen have both been ruled out of Monday's Zurich Premiership clash with shoulder and rib injuries respectively.

There is also a major doubt over Matt Powell who is struggling to make the Welford Road game. The scrum-half is rated at just 50-50 to make the match because of a groin injury so the Warriors have delayed the team announcement.

Ben Hinshelwood and Gary Trueman have been brought into the squad as straight replacements for the injured duo, while Clive Stuart-Smith comes into a provisional 23 as cover for Powell and Neil Cole.

Skipper Pat Sanderson returns to the squad after serving his suspension and Brad MacLeod-Henderson looks set to keep his place at number eight with Drew Hickey switching to blindside.

Worcester could also give winger Paul Sampson his first Premiership start with Daren O'Leary set to drop out.

Leicester, who handed a 38-11 beating to Worcester last month at Sixways, are flying high at the top of the Premiership and are looking good in the Heineken Cup.

Worcester's coaches John Brain and Andy Keast are under no illusions of the size of the task facing the Sixways side.

"It's the hardest place to go in Europe at the moment," said Brain. "They are the form team and have international quality throughout their side.

"I think people have to remember that we were playing in National One as recently as April so that gives us all some perspective. Now, we're going to play at the home of the best team in Europe in front of a 16,000 crowd.

"There has to be a fear factor for the coaches and, more importantly, our players. In this type of game, we can perform and we still might not win. The flip side of that is if we don't perform, we'll get beaten heavily. There's no doubt about it."

Probable team: Delport; Pieters, Hinshelwood, Trueman, Sampson; Brown, Cole (Powell); Windo, Van Niekerk, Horsman, Collier, Gillies, Hickey, Sanderson, MacLeod-Henderson.

Replacements: Fortey, Hall, Murphy, Vaili, Cole (Stuart-Smith), Hayes, Roke.