WARRIORS' head coach Jonathan Thomas is confident that new signing Chris Ashton will make his long awaited debut this weekend when Worcester host Newcastle Falcons at Sixways.

Ashton, who signed for the club last month, has been kept on the sidelines thus far as the club try and get him back to full fitness after a long period of not playing too much rugby with previous side Harlequins.

"We're confident Chris will play next week," said Thomas.

"He has been with us three weeks now and he hadn't played for a while and had a few niggles so we wanted to do the right thing and give him time.

"The big thing with injuries is if you bring them back to soon, you can cause more issues so we have put him through a period of loading and getting used to this pitch and we are confident he will be in the squad next week."

The former England winger and third highest try-scorer in Premiership history will look to help Worcester end a run of nine straight defeats in all competitions against Newcastle this Saturday.

The 33-year-old is just four tries away from ex-Wasps winger Tom Varndell's current record of 92 Premiership tries and only two away from former England flier Mark Cueto in second.