EXPERIENCED duo Jonathan Thomas and Chris Pennell will continue their comeback from injury in Worcester Warriors’ British and Irish Cup programme.

Director of rugby Dean Ryan is likely to field Thomas and Pennell and a few other senior players against Moseley in a pool three match at Sixways on Saturday (3pm).

Thomas and Pennell played the final 30 minutes as Warriors edged to a 32-29 victory over Jersey in Friday’s Championship match.

Warriors surrendered a 22-5 advantage and needed a last-minute Ryan Lamb penalty to overcome the Islanders.

Their attention now switches to the cup and Ryan insists it’s important his men qualify for the knockout stages.

“We are pleased with the way our pack is heading but we have changed our back-line probably a little bit too much in the last few weeks and it looked disjointed,” said Ryan.

Warriors won 39-0 at Moseley last month in the cup. They travel to Munster ‘A’ on December 5 before hosting Nottingham in their final pool match on December 13.

Ryan said: “It is a change of emphasis and we have got to qualify from the pool stages “We’ve had three wins in the cup with a young group and this is now about qualification, which means we have to go to Munster ‘A’ in a few weeks and win.

“People like Chris Pennell and Jonathan Thomas will play a bit and we will get some more senior guys in.

“Although it’s about youngsters, it’s also about making sure the balance of game-time for players is right.”

Ryan was smarting after Friday’s narrow victory and felt his side had not got their reward for a dominant drive.

“We have got one of the most powerful weapons in the Championship with the drive and our scrum,” said Ryan. “We have to put pressure on the person in the middle to referee and if we are facing that every week we will be making more of a representation.

“In the first-half we were allowed to drive, then after half-time Jersey stopped contesting it and we got forced to play the ball. The laws of the game need to be applied.”