DIRECTOR of rugby Niall Crawford was left cursing his “bad luck” after Worcester suffered three further injury blows in their 45-17 loss at Newbold-on-Avon.

Prop James Sinclair was forced off with a back issue before his replacement Sam Fitch injured his neck at the start of the second half, leading to uncontested scrums for the remainder of the Midlands One West battle.

To add to Worcester’s woes Crawford said full-back Alex Crawshaw sustained suspected knee ligament damage.

The trio join a mounting casualty list with utility back Paul Burton (arm), prop Richard Ralph (head) and hooker Dave Whiting (knee) picking up injuries in Worcester’s 31-20 defeat to Bromsgrove last week.

“To have as many serious injuries as we have after two games is definitely not ideal,” Crawford said.

“We do have some other players coming back and they will be available over the next couple of weeks so that does help our situation.

“But the nagging doubt is whether these injured players are going to be out long term or back in two to three weeks. It is pure bad luck.”

Newbold scored six tries in the home triumph as they sit in second position behind leaders Old Halesonians while Worcester are third from bottom after losing their opening two games.

“Newbold were well organised and you could tell they had a lot of experience from playing at Midlands Premier level,” Crawford said.

“We were very competitive at times and scored some really high-quality tries but the sheer size and physicality of the Newbold pack meant we were on the back foot quite often.

“Managing to keep the ball for long enough to put them under pressure and move them around the park was something we found difficult.”

Worcester will now look to register their first victory of the season against winless Droitwich at Weston’s Fields on Saturday (3pm).

And Crawford said he had been boosted by the return of props Tom Drew and Alex Peel.

“With Tom coming back to full fitness and Alex’s availability this week the front row will be back to full strength,” Crawford said.

“We are fortunate in the way things have worked out.

“Richard is going to have his concussion protocols followed up this week and if he is clear he will come back into the squad.

“Paul is out for the season with a broken arm and Dave is still waiting for the results from the scan on his knee.

“But there will be an opportunity for players to come in and stamp their style of play onto the game and hopefully add value to the team.

“It will be the first time in many years that Worcester and Droitwich have played each other so it will be interesting to see how both sides will approach the game.”