Hill sweating on fly-halves for tough trip to Quins (From Worcester News)

Hill sweating on fly-halves for tough trip to Quins

8:30am Wednesday 15th February 2012 in Warriors By Tom Guest, @tomguestWN #WENsport

RICHARD Hill is keeping his fingers crossed one of his two regular fly-halves will be fit for Saturday’s trip to table-topping Harlequins (5.30pm).

Andy Goode is battling a hamstring problem, while fellow first XV regular Joe Carlisle has been sidelined by a hip injury since the LV= Cup defeat at Saracens.

Third-choice number 10 Danny Gray was pressed into emergency action in Friday night’s 15-12 defeat at Sale Sharks after Goode was forced off at half-time, but Hill will be desperate to tackle the Aviva Premiership pace-setters with one of his two regular play-makers in the driving seat.

Both Goode and Carlisle have this week returned to training and head coach Hill now faces a nervous wait to see if either will be match-fit by Saturday.

He said: “Andy is not as serious as we first thought, but he has a slight tear in the sheath around his hamstring, rather than in the actual muscle.

“He is running and kicking at the moment and, touch wood, he could potentially be available for the weekend.

“Joe, who has been out with a hip strain, has also been training this week and he looks reasonably OK. I’m sure one of those two will be fit for Saturday’s game.

“There were a number of good performances for the Cavaliers on Monday night, but after such a good showing by the first team at Sale, there was not much to make me want to drop anyone from the starting XV.

“Defensively, every player – plus those who came off the bench – performed well, so there won’t be too many changes for this weekend.”