INJURED centre Wynand Olivier is “optimistic” about playing for Worcester Warriors before the end of the season, according to director of rugby Dean Ryan.

The experienced South Africa international sustained a hamstring pull during Warriors’ Aviva Premiership 50-12 defeat to Exeter Chiefs earlier this month.

The injury ruled him out of Worcester’s clash against Wasps last Saturday and there were fears he had played his last game of the campaign.

However, Ryan revealed they were doing all they could to get Olivier back fit to face either Leicester Tigers next weekend or Saracens at Sixways on Saturday, May 7.

“Wynand has got a hamstring injury and we will just keep rehabilitating him,” Ryan said.

“The Leicester game might be too soon for him, but it is a possibility and we are pushing hard to see if we can get him back before the end of the season.

“He is not somebody who jumps around with a niggle. He said pretty quickly that he had an issue there and I was going to have to pull him out.

“It is then about how he recovers, but he is optimistic about playing again this season which is good news.”

With Olivier on the treatment table, Ryan opted to move Bryce Heem into outside centre and it was a decision which backfired as Wasps ran riot at Sixways, chalking up eight tries in a 54-35 victory.

“We missed Wynand’s experience and you saw that again at the weekend where we probably made too many changes, putting Bryce at 13 against a side like Wasps,” Ryan said.

“But that was my call and something we wanted to see and not something we wanted to ponder about going into next season.”

Heem lasted 40 minutes at 13 before centre Andy Symons replaced Tom Biggs at half-time, allowing the New Zealander to return to the wing.

However, Ryan insisted Heem would get more opportunities to showcase his ability in the midfield.

“We looked more solid when we went to Andy because he is used to playing in the centre,” he added.

“I don’t think that first 40 minutes was Bryce’s best opportunity to get the best out of him at 13, so we will probably look at it again, but possibly later in the game rather than at the start.

“He is a physical presence, gets on the ball more often and you have seen how effective he is on the wing. We had hoped that we could get him on the ball a bit more (at centre), but the first half (performance) wasn’t great from the team.

“So we will look at it again."