WERNER Swanepoel looks set for a four-week lay-off following his knee injury.

Worcester Rugby Club's skipper tore cartilage in Saturday's 34-0 win over London Welsh and will now require an operation.

The South African will have the surgery on Thursday but the lay-off is not as bad as first feared when he was carried off the Sixways field by team-mates at the end of the National One clash.

Swanepoel was this week due to be ruled out for two weeks anyway because of treatment to his long-standing Achilles problem so the extra fortnight off is not a disaster for the scrum half.

"It could have been a lot worse," he said. "When I initially injured the knee I thought something was broken and I would be out for six or eight months. It was so painful and I heard a crack so I naturally feared the worst.

"The fact that I was already going to miss the next two weeks because of the Achilles means the lay-off isn't that bad. I hope to be back in three weeks but we will just have to see how the operation goes."

Swanepoel's Achilles will be injected today in a bid to clear up the injury suffered back in April and director of rugby John Brain admitted he wasn't too unhappy with the prognosis.

"We didn't want Werner to miss the opening month of the season," he said. "However, we now go into a period where we play cup games mixed with a match against the bottom side Manchester.

"We've budgeted for four weeks but players, after this type of operation, have been known to come back in two. What we hope is that after the month, Werner can forget about the injuries because he's been unlucky."

Meanwhile, Worcester will not be taking a Powergen Cup third round victory for granted on Saturday. The Warriors face National Two side Harrogate at Sixways and are looking to put out a strong side.

"What we want to do is build on the first half performance against London Welsh," added Brain. "We don't envisage resting players. We want to build momentum and put out our strongest side possible."

Flanker Gavin Pfister will not be involved after being granted leave to fly back to South Africa for a wedding.