DIRECTOR of rugby Gary Gold has been left cursing Worcester Warriors’ wretched injury luck after Matt Cox and Niall Annett suffered knocks in training yesterday.

Flanker Cox damaged his bicep and Annett, who has recently overcome a hamstring problem, injured his knee after two “innocuous” incidents.

The duo now look set to miss Warriors’ visit to Kingsholm to face local rivals Gloucester in the Aviva Premiership on Friday night (7.45pm).

“It does seem that (we have picked up more than our fair share of injuries),” Gold said.

“We picked up another two in training (yesterday) which were completely innocuous.

“Every club does pick up their injuries, but it is quite frustrating.”

The latest double blow comes after half-back pairing Jonny Arr and Tom Heathcote were ruled out of the derby with concussion.

The duo suffered bangs to the head in Warriors’ 41-10 defeat to Exeter Chiefs at Sixways last Friday.

“Jonny is seeing a specialist in London and then he will start to go through the return to play protocol,” Gold said.

“But I think he is symptom free at the moment which is good.”

Heathcote missed a large chunk of last season after sustaining two blows to the head.

“Tom will go through the same process as Jonny, but he is feeling a lot better," Warriors boss continued. 

"He has had terrible luck, but all you can do is be overly cautious from a concussion point of view.”

Since Warriors began pre-season they have been hit by one injury after another with back rowers Marco Mama (knee) and Dewald Potgieter (knee) facing the longest periods out.

Tighthead props Nick Schonert (ankle) and Simon Kerrod (adductor), locks Darren Barry (quad) and Will Spencer (ankle), centres Wynand Olivier (hamstring) and Max Stelling (ankle), scrum-half Luke Baldwin (bicep), flankers David Denton (calf and Achilles) and Carl Kirwan (shoulder) and versatile back Ryan Mills (shoulder and hip) are also on Worcester’s casualty list.

Gold said it was “terrible” to see so many of his squad on the treatment table and he admitted some of his injured players had been reduced to tears.

“It is incredibly frustrating when you consider we started the Premiership and we couldn’t pick arguably our top three loose forwards in David, Marco and Dewald,” Gold said.

“I know there are other clubs with injuries, but we are not yet blessed with strength in depth.

“We have got some young guys who you want to see get blooded through, but unfortunately they are getting thrown into the deep end.

“There is nothing you can do about (injuries) as a coach yet supposedly we are defined by results.

“It is an occupational hazard, so there is no point moaning about it.

“It is just terrible when you see players injured and in tears when they think they might be out for six or seven months.

“It’s devastating for them as it is their livelihood.”