LOOSEHEAD prop Ryan Bower is keen to make the most of his chances for Worcester Warriors this campaign.

Bower was an unsung hero in Worcester’s Greene King IPA Championship promotion-winning season when the 24-year-old played 27 times for Warriors to register the highest number of appearances in the squad.

Bower is hoping to boost his claims for a starting place in Worcester’s Aviva Premiership line-up by impressing in today’s under 23 development match against Saracens at Bramley Road (1pm).

“I can’t wait to play,” said Bower, who joined Warriors from Leicester Tigers in 2014.

“It has been a long time and I’m raring to go. There’s a lot of competition this year so I want to get as much game- time as possible and take the chances when I get them.

“Saracens will bring a physical test — they are a high-intensity team who will be looking to come off the line and smash people.

“We’ve got to try to take that momentum from them and play our own game.

“We’ve got some new guys so we need to integrate them.

“Playing Saracens is always great and it will be nice to play at Bramley Road for the first time.”

Bower, who was included in England’s 2011 Junior World Championship squad, made his debut for Leicester in 2010 and has previously enjoyed two loan spells at Nottingham.

Bower admitted: “I couldn’t believe it when one of the boys told me I had made more appearances than anyone else for Warriors last year. It’s just great to be playing every week.

“I’ve put a lot of work in with the scrum coaches. I try to work hard and just enjoy playing. The new boys have settled in really well. They put in the hard work and it’s going well so far.

“There has been a lot of hard work this pre-season with lots of high-intensity sprints.”

Bower shares a house with fellow front- row duo Ben Sowrey and Joe Rees.

He joked: “After training the backs are always out playing golf but the forwards are too tired so we watch television and cook food. We do a good Thai curry.”