RICHARD Hill has contacted a host of rugby agents to draw up a list of available forwards should the Sixways injury crisis worsen.

The hamstrung Warriors head coach revealed that if he loses one more back-five forward he will be forced to bring in a new recruit.

Kai Horstmann’s hamstring problem is a lot worse than first feared and, while the problem shouldn’t need surgery, the number eight will be sidelined until the New Year.

Fellow number eight Adam Balding and prop Oliver Tomasczcyk both also suffered torn hamstrings during the Amlin Challenge Cup victory over Crociati Parma and will not feature any time soon.

In addition to that, second row James Percival will be out until at least the trip to Exeter on December 3 after having surgery on a broken thumb.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, it transpires recent back-row recruit Richard Muagututia only joined the club on a three-month visa and must now return to Canberra in Australia to renew the paperwork until the end of the season.

With Hill’s resources stretched to breaking point, he must now decide whether to move Chris Jones back into the second row and play Matt Kvesic at number eight.

Alternatively, he could keep former England man Jones at the back of the pack and hand lock Ben Gulliver a start alongside Craig Gillies in the engine room.

Either way, it is not ideal preparation for Friday’s Aviva Premiership visit from Bath, who are likely to boast the all-international back- row trio of Springbok Fran-cois Louw, former England captain Lewis Moody and Scotland’s Simon Taylor.

Hill said: “We are one injury away from having to take emergency action and get someone in. There is a concern that if Adam is still out when Richard has to go back to Australia in December that we could be very light indeed.

“We are in the process of looking at who we could bring in and I have be in touch with all the agents to get a list of who’s currently available.

“That will be quite a healthy list and, if we have to go with that, we could get someone in at very short notice.”

Hill added: “It looks like Kai has a bad hamstring injury and we won’t see him before Christmas, which is a real shame.

“It appears that the tendon at the top of his hamstring has gone — not completely because the surgeon says it is manageable without an operation.”