WORCESTER Warriors scrum-half Jono Kitto has become the latest summer signing to suffer an injury setback ahead of the Gallagher Premiership season.

Boss Alan Solomons revealed Kitto was in line to make his debut against Leicester Tigers last weekend only to injure his abductor two days before the Premiership Cup opener.

The New Zealander who made the move from Northland joins his fellow countryman and recruit Matt Moulds on the injury list that also features Francois Venter.

Solomons said Kitto was making “really good progress” but would be unavailable for Warriors’ trip to Bath on Saturday (3pm).

“(The issue) is high up his groin so it’s his abductor,” Solomons said.

“He picked it up last Thursday which was sad for him as he was due to play (against Leicester).

“We won’t consider him this weekend but is running now with Johan (Pretorius, head of performance) and is moving quite freely.”

Moulds underwent keyhole surgery to fix his injured knee last week and Solomons said the hooker felt “more comfortable” following the operation.

“He says the knee feels a lot better,” Solomons said.

“It is early days but he feels very positive about it after the little procedure that he had.

“Conservatively you are probably looking at about six weeks (on the sidelines) from the time that he had the procedure.”

Solomons said centre Venter was also recovering well from a calf problem.

“Francois is not that far away,” Solomons added.

“But we want to be conservative with him.”

Flanker Sam Lewis (calf) and lock Michael Fatialofa (hamstring) who were unused substitutes in the 57-23 victory over Tigers are expected to be in contention to face Bath.

But wing Dean Hammond will miss the match after receiving a blow to the head in the first half against Leicester.

“It looks like Dean will go through the (return to play) protocol without a problem,” Solomons added.

“He has not had any difficultly but I won’t play Dean this weekend in any event.”