LUCKLESS back rower Zac Xiourouppa and loosehead prop Ryan Bower are expected to miss the rest of the season through injury.

Director of rugby Alan Solomons confirmed Xiourouppa damaged his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in Worcester Warriors’ 34-22 defeat at Saracens on Sunday.

The outlook also appears bleak for Bower who is set to have surgery after tearing his Achilles in the Premiership Cup clash.

There were concerns over second row Andrew Kitchener after he left the field on a stretcher following a blow to his head in the second half.

But Solomons said Kitchener was “fine” and would go through the concussion protocols.

“Zac has injured his ACL so that will be his season over, which is so tough on him,” Solomons said.

“Ryan has torn his Achilles and has got to be operated on it.

“I would be very surprised if he plays again this year with that kind of injury.

“Kitch had concussion which is a serious thing but he does not have to go through an operation. He is going through the protocol but otherwise he is fine.”

Xiourouppa joined Worcester’s senior academy ahead of the 2016-17 season and made his Warriors debut in October 2016.

But injuries have plagued his young career as the 21-year-old was ruled out of the entire 2017-18 campaign.

Despite being side-lined for so long the ex-England under 18s captain was promoted to the first-team this summer and had a spell in New Zealand with Orental Rongotai Club to get game-time.

However Xiourouppa has returned to the treatment table after injuring his knee in the opening six minutes of his first outing for Warriors in more than two years.

“It was innocuous,” Solomons said.

“The guys gets his foot stuck in the turf and that’s what can happen. It’s bad luck.

“He is a fantastic boy and a great player.

“I was chatting to Richard Hill, the England manager, who knows him well and he said at under 18 level he was the number one openside flanker in the country.

“But he has just not had the opportunity to progress because he has had injuries.

“When I came here (in October last year) he was injured and then he went away during the June break to New Zealand.

"He came back, had a minor setback but now he has got this injury.

“You can recover from an ACL but this does rule him out for the season.”