JAMES Lofthouse could fire across the bows of Worcester's promotion push by lining up against his old club for Wakefield on Saturday.

The former England U21 stand-off left Worcester two weeks ago to study a business degree at Newcastle University.

His decision to leave Sixways prompted immediate interest from Rotherham and Wakefield, and he chose the latter as it's closer to his new home.

Lofthouse played at stand-off in a friendly against John Liley's new club, Doncaster, on Tuesday and could win an immediate promotion to start the Allied Dunbar Premiership Two clash against Worcester on Saturday.

"Worcester's a great place with the best set-up in the country, and they have ambitions to reach great heights which I hope they do," said Lofthouse. "But it would give me great delight to put a spanner in the works by helping Wakefield to beat them.

"If I had a penalty to win the game in the final minute, I'd have no choice but to kick it. I'd even do it with my left foot!"

A severe shoulder injury limited Lofthouse to a handful of appearances last season and Tony Yapp's arrival saw him relegated to the second team this term, yet he still found it hard to leave Sixways.

He said his final farewell to the club with his 21st birthday celebration on Friday, which coincided with Worcester's home game against Coventry.

"It was quite hard for me speaking to the supporters, as I've made a lot of friends at Worcester," he added.

Lofthouse is the third stand-off the leave Worcester since last season, following the departures of Niall Malone to Ulster, and Richard Le Bas to Leeds. Only Tony Yapp has moved in the other direction.

But director of rugby Les Cusworth isn't worried about a shortage of cover, should Yapp suffer an injury.

"We've got Stephen Ward in the U21s and Ben Harvey played there against Coventry last Saturday and played well," said Cusworth. "Duncan Hughes also has a long history of playing at fly-half, so we have that area pretty well covered."