New signing Hal Luscombe may not be fit to play until October

Worcester Warriors will be without both their major summer signings for the start of the season.

Welsh international Hal Luscombe may not be fit until October and Australian Test star Chris Latham also misses the opener at Northampton on 6 September.

Director of rugby Mike Ruddock told BBC Hereford and Worcester that it was part and parcel of the game.

"Hal's had an operation on his knee," said Ruddock. "Chris will be here but won't be fully fit for a few weeks."

Ruddock admits that, as far as is Luscombe is concerned, he had never expected to get the Wales centre at Worcester until after the start of the season anyway.

"We made a lot of progress in the second half of last season and the players have come in looking to carry that one. Mike Ruddock

"He will be late starting," said Ruddock. "Having said that, if he had been fit, he would not have been here any earlier, as he would have been playing in the Tri-Nations.

"Hal has had a knee problem and it's required surgery, so we may not see him until October, but the rest of the squad are training well.

"We've got some good pre-season games, and I would have liked to have more at home but, with the building work going on, that is not possible.

"But we have to see the bigger picture, and we can then continue to develop in front of even more fans.

"We made a lot of progress in the second half of last season and the players have come in looking to carry that on."