WARRIORS winger Marcel Garvey has been dropped for Saturday’s Guinness Premiership trip to London Irish (3pm) with Rico Gear taking his place in the starting XV.

There is no place for Garvey in the squad at the Madejski Stadium as director of rugby Mike Ruddock will name centre Alex Grove, back from international duty with Scotland, in his place on the bench.

The ex-Gloucester player instead travels with the second string to Newcastle for the Guinness ‘A’ League match on Monday night.

Ruddock explained: “I’m going to give Rico a run at London Irish and Marcel will join up with the ‘A’ team.

“I will be putting Alex on the bench as he can cover 12, 13 and wing — he could even play full-back if necessary.

“Marcel has done OK recently but has made a few little errors — he’s not the only one though.

“It is not so much a case of him being dropped. I am just making a few changes to keep that area fresh.”

Academy graduate Grove completed a meteoric rise to prominence by impressing in Scotland’s autumn international campaign.

He won his first three caps against Fiji, Australia and Argentina before returning to Sixways this week.

“Alex had three big physical tests with Scotland, the highlight of which was the victory over Australia,” said Ruddock.

Meanwhile, Warriors rookie scrum-half Jonny Arr has the chance to prove he can make the grade after an injury to Ryan Powell.

The former Royal Grammar School Worcester pupil, who turned 21 on Sunday, is set for a run of games as first-choice number nine.

It will start with Saturday’s daunting league trip to Reading after Powell was sidelined for around three weeks by a rib cartilage injury.

Ruddock is convinced Arr, who has played 32 times for the club but made just three starts, can make the step-up but admits the next few games could be ‘make-or-break’ for the young half-back.

Ruddock added: “We’re disappointed for Ryan but this is just the sort of opportunity Jonny has been waiting for where he should get a run of three or four games.

“I’m confident he’ll do well. It could be just the right sort of time in his career to get a run of games and the confidence to push on and put even more pressure on Ryan.

“This is the kind of oppportunity that can make or break players and I am confident it will make Jonny into a very fine player.”

Injured prop Matt Mullan has revealed he is planning to make his return from a torn hamstring in Warriors’ Christmas cracker with Northampton Saints at Sixways on Boxing Day.