WORCESTER'S new signings both have the key to unlock National One defences - raw pace.

Wes Davies and Jon Hylton signed into Sixways this week as the Warriors reinforced their squad for the promotion push. Both backs are blessed with talent but for coach Keast, the one thing which will frighten defences is pace.

"They've both got raw pace," he said. "That means that if the back three don't play with pace then we will bring someone else in. We've certainly got options now.

"Wes is deceptively quick because he's very tall and looking at him in training, you can see why he scores tries."

Hylton and Davies were brought into the squad partly because of Nnamdi Ezulike's fresh knee trouble. The former London Irish wing has already missed the opening three matches after a double dose of knee surgery. However, after returning to training last week, it became clear that the knee still wasn't right.

"To be fair to Nnamdi he was very honest and up front about it," said director of rugby John Brain. "He came to me last Friday after a track session and told me there was something wrong still. It was very disappointing for him because he's had a terrible time with injury and we're obviously hoping that this latest operation will cure the problem."

Meanwhile Worcester are hopeful that David Officer and Richard Bates will both be back in full training within the next week or two.

Officer could yet play some part in next Saturday's cup clash with Harrogate after recovering from a hamstring tear while Bates is making good progress following his knee injury.