Michael Lipman will not be risked when Bath visit Worcester in the Guinness Premiership tomorrow.

The Bath captain was knocked out and suffered a cut head during his side's 3-3 draw with Toulouse on January 25 – and was ruled out of England's opening RBS 6 Nations clash as a result.

And even after three weeks without a match, the 29-year-old flanker is not likely to be selected for Bath's trip to Sixways.

Head coach Steve Meehan, whose week has been disrupted by several players going down with a bug, said: "Michael won't play this weekend.

"We want to make sure he has a full week's training before he plays, to make sure he is ready to go, and he hasn't had that this week."

The disruption to the Bath squad caused by international fixtures is minimal, with only England hooker Lee Mears and Romania prop Paulica Ion unavailable for that reason.

Meehan, meanwhile, is pleased with the shape his players have reported back in this week following their strength and conditioning camp in Seville at the end of last month.

"The players feel a lot fresher, both mentally and physically, and I have been very happy with how we have trained this week," said Meehan.

"I can't tell you what the result is going to be on Saturday, but I think we will perform better than we have in the first match back after a break in the past."