Gloucester star Willi Heinz set for return from long-term injury layoff

Willi Heinz will make his first appearance since England’s crushing World Cup semi-final victory over New Zealand when Gloucester host Worcester in the Gallagher Premiership.

Heinz suffered a significant hamstring injury in the latter stages of the All Blacks rout, forcing Eddie Jones’ second choice scrum-half to sit out the final.

The 33-year-old has been in rehabilitation since but returns as captain for the west country derby against the Warriors on Friday night.

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Also back in action is his half-back partner Danny Cipriani, who was rested for the narrow defeat by Connacht last weekend.

Gloucester are playing their 500th Premiership match and are seeking an improvement against Worcester after winning only two of their five league games this season.

“We respect Worcester and their coaching staff and what they’ve achieved – they’ve got quality players,” head coach Johan Ackermann said.

“But it all starts with us. We have to look at ourselves and tick the boxes that we want to.

“We’ve scored a lot of tries recently including some very good tries. Hopefully we’ll get some more and the supporters will enjoy it.”

Worcester hooker Matt Moulds is named captain on his Premiership debut after Niall Annett was ruled out by a shoulder injury.

- Press Association

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