DIRECTOR of rugby Alan Solomons has been left with further injury worries as Worcester Warriors remain trapped in a relegation battle.

Wing Josh Adams (dead leg) and second row Anton Bresler (calf) were forced off in Warriors’ 28-16 defeat at Wasps in the Gallagher Premiership on Saturday.

Tighthead prop Nick Schonert was also withdrawn on the morning of the match due to a back problem while wing Bryce Heem (foot), fly-half Jono Lance (head), hooker Jack Singleton (elbow) and locks Michael Fatialofa (back) and Pierce Phillips (head) were deemed unfit to play.

Solomons said he was “optimistic” of having his key men back available for Saturday’s home clash with Sale Sharks (3pm).

But he also backed other members of his squad to step into their shoes should they fail to recover in time as Warriors who are three points above the drop zone look ahead to the final four games of the season.

“Anton has got a calf injury and Josh had a dead leg which is why we took them off,” Solomons said.

“You could see that Josh was struggling. In the incident before we took him off he was struggling to run up the left-hand touchline.”

Asked whether the duo were a concern for the Sale match, Solomons replied: “We don’t know.

“We have got to wait until we get the medical report on them.

“We will get a better view on Monday morning.”

Schonert had been initially named on the team-sheet to face Wasps only to pull out and be replaced in the starting line-up by Gareth Milasinovich.

“Nick had a back problem,” Solomons said.

“He withdrew from the Harlequins game last weekend and was battling with it all week.

“When he woke up this morning it just wasn’t right so we withdrew him.

“I am hoping he will be (back to face Sale).

“Michael had a facet joint (problem) so his back went into spasm.

“Unfortunately Jack’s elbow didn’t feel 100 per cent right for throwing this weekend.

“We will see what he is like this week. It would be nice to have those chaps back into consideration.”

Asked how confident he was of having players back fit to tackle Sharks, Solomons added: “I am optimistic that they will be OK for selection for next week but we don’t know.

“We lost Michael on Friday, Nick on Saturday morning, Bryce during the week and Pierce didn’t recover from the HIA.

“It is one of those things but we have got good depth in the squad. There is enough there.”

On Lance, Solomons said: “Jono has got to get through the return-to-play protocol.

“It is exactly the same situation (as Pierce) so there were a number of guys that weren’t available.”

Scotland stand-off Duncan Weir was replaced with 14 minutes to go by scrum-half Michael Heaney, leading centre Ryan Mills to move to fly-half and number nine Francois Hougaard to the wing. But Solomons said it was a tactical decision.

“Duncan is fine,” Solomons said.

“It was an opportunity to look at something a little bit different.

“We were 28-16 down so we probably needed a try.

“Having Millsy, Ben (Te’o) and Francois (Venter) on I hoped that little bit of a change-up could bring some fruit to bear.

“Unfortunately we had no ball. We had three chances.

“We had a great scrum, the ball was taken up by Ben, he offloaded off to Michael and it went astray.

“At the end we then knocked the ball on.”