DIRECTOR of rugby Dean Ryan admitted Worcester Warriors have missed the ball-carrying prowess of giant lock Tevita Cavubati.

The Fiji international made his first appearance since completing his nine-week ban for biting an opponent when he came off the bench at Sixways last Saturday.

Despite being on the end of a 54-35 defeat to Wasps, Cavubati made a big impression during his 30-minute spell as he almost powered over the try line and put in a series of carries.

Ryan says he is delighted to have Cavubati back available and believes he will give Warriors an extra physical presence as they prepare to take on Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on Saturday (3pm).

“When you see his ball-carrying, he gives us a massive amount of front-foot ball and we lacked that a little bit without him, especially as the ground hardens up,” Ryan said.

“When you don’t have a (Marco) Mama or (Dewald) Potgieter, who is injured and is away at the minute, Tevita is a massive plus for us.”

The 28-year-old was handed the suspension in February after pleading guilty to biting Jebb Sinclair in Worcester’s 20-13 loss to London Irish.

“It was a tough time for him and us, so we could have done with him being around, but you have just got to get on with things,” said Ryan, whose side won five out of their eight games without Cavubati to climb to safety.

“Tevita has got to face up to the consequences of his actions and as a club we moved on.

“That was a tough period for us, but the group and Darren Barry, Donncha O’Callaghan and Dan Sanderson conducted themselves very well to make sure we got the wins that we needed.”

Since joining the club in the summer, Cavubati has made 13 appearances at lock, but Ryan says he has considered moving him into the back row in the future.

“He is a 6ft 7in guy who plays in the second row and does a really good job,” he said.

“There are times, probably in situations when we don’t have a huge amount of ball-carriers, you might look at him at six.

“Of course we have thought about it, but he is not a natural six or a natural eight because he is a very big man and I quite like what he did last weekend, so let’s see if we can get more of that.”

Leicester have a host of international stars across their squad and Cavubati insists he knows the kind of test his side will face at the weekend.

He said: “There will be some big hits but I can’t wait. I will put my body on the line and hopefully we can pull off a good result.”