WORCESTER Warriors’ Jonathan Thomas is wary of a potential upset out in Italy this weekend when his side travel to Parma to play Zebre in the European Challenge Cup.

Worcester know they need to win with a bonus-point to stand the best chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition.

They sit in fourth in Pool A with four points but given that two of the two best fourth ranked sides in the group stage will progress, there is still hope.

But they must complete their ‘Italian Job’ first and that is no gimme says Thomas.

In fact, Worcester have lost their last two to this weekend's opposition, having lost both games in the 2015/16 Challenge Cup pool stage to the Italians.

“I played against Italian opposition for 12 years in the Pro-12 and whenever you came up against Treviso or Zebre there was never an easy game over there,” said Thomas.

“It is going to be a real challenge and I have stressed to the players that Zebre are proud rugby men and we must have respect for them as a team.

“A lot of big European teams have been humbled in Italy over the years. It’s an exciting challenge because we don’t normally play against Italian opposition.”

Zebre have not won a game all season and recently appointed experienced Argentinian Emiliano Bergamaschi as their new head coach.

They have also had Covid struggles of late within the camp and haven’t played a game for a month.

“They, like Saracens, Bath and Toulon have had COVID issues but we have heard nothing from Zebre to suggest that the game will not be played,” added Thomas.

“As we have discovered with all our recent opponents, if a team has had down week or weeks because of COVID they are fresh and raring to go.

“Zebre also have a new coach who is forward orientated and so you would expect an emotional response from their players.

“They are a physical side with some good athletes so it will be a good test for us.”