FORMER Wales international Jonathan Thomas looks set to skipper Worcester Warriors in tomorrow’s Midlands derby against Moseley at Billesley Common (3pm).

Thomas wore the armband in last weekend’s 62-26 victory against Cornish Pirates because skipper Gerrit-Jan van Velze was getting married in South Africa.

Van Velze is also missing the trip to Moseley, says Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan, but winger Sam Smith, who was at the wedding party in South Africa, has returned to Sixways.

“JT (Jonathan Thomas) is a pretty nice replacement to have,” said Ryan.

“We were pretty confident with JT last year and it was a big call to shift the captaincy to GJ (Van Velze).

“I think it was the right call but to gain experience from those two is very important.

“We are pretty pleased to see JT back at the helm.”

Highly-rated prop Nick Schonert, who hurt his ribs in last weekend win, is expected to be fit.

Worcester are second in the Greene King IPA Championship after 10 successive league wins and, with Bristol hosting Yorkshire Carnegie on Sunday, they have a chance to go top.

Warriors have already beaten Moseley three times this term – once in the league and twice in the pool stage of the British and Irish Cup.

Moseley are ninth and were pipped 19-18 at bottom-of-the-table Plymouth Albion last weekend. Ryan insists he is not taking Moseley lightly.

He said: “We didn’t find it easy at Plymouth either so we won’t be critical of that defeat.”

“If we turn up with a poor mindset we will be vulnerable.

We want to play well but, more importantly, we want to win.

"We saw in the British and Irish Cup that it’s tough and it depends on the weather conditions.

“A pretty strong wind comes in from the top end of the ground and I think we spent 40 minutes in our own ‘22’ in the second-half of that cup game.”