New Leicester Tigers captain Austin Healey has a very simple goal ahead of Friday evening's GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP clash against Worcester Warriors: he wants to maintain his 100 per cent captaincy record.

Jack of all trades Healey has captained Tigers just once before; in a Premiership match at Welford Road against Newcastle Falcons in 1999/2000, a game the home team won 34-26. Healey started at fly-half that day, with current coaches Pat Howard and Richard Cockerill in the 22 (the latter was on the bench), as well as England back rows Lewis Moody and Martin Corry.

Ben Kay and Will Johnson, who will start at lock and No.8 respectively this Friday, were also in the starting line-up, as was prop Graham Rowntree, who is currently injured.

"Cozza's a few days older than me, so he should retire before me," joked Healey when asked about any future captaincy aspirations. "I actually think I've captained Tigers on another occasion . . . either way, I've got a 100 per cent record and I'd like to keep it that way!"

Whilst Austin will be leading Tigers out in the absence of England squad members Martin Corry and Louis Deacon - the former, of course is the England captain - and the injured Daryl Gibson, he could well find himself in charge for a few more weeks in November.

He added: "All I can ask from the guys is to be enthusiastic and energetic - give it your all, if you only last 50 or 60 minutes then happy days, these next few weeks are going to need a big squad effort."

This month is certainly going to be an awkward one. Without the likes of Corry, Deacon, Lewis Moody, Harry Ellis, Andy Goode, Ollie Smith, Leo Cullen, Geordan Murphy, Ephraim Taukafa, and let's not forget the Tuilagi clan, Tigers' resources are looking rather thin.

"Yeah," concurred Healey, "we could be without a lot of players, but I think the guys left here are really hungry. Players like Will Skinner and Ross Broadfoot, they're raring to go; I'm surprised we've still got Shane Jennings here, but hey, that's the Irish for you! Pat's known all along that this time would come, which is why he's held these guys back and is now giving them an opportunity."

The likes of Skinner and Broadfoot - who were still playing Under-21 rugby for England last season - are gaining more and more Premiership experience every week, with the irony not lost on Healey, who now finds himself back at scrum-half - where it all began for him in the early part of his career.

"I've enjoyed being back at scrum-half - where it all began for me," he said with a grin. "Leon keeps telling me that I'll be moved back to the wing when Scotty Bemand returns to fitness, but Pat's been keeping me fit and involved, so I'm happy to play wherever the club needs me."

Healey has been involved in all nine of Tigers' matches so far in 2005/06, making three starts - two at scrum-half and one on the wing - and a further six appearances off the bench, prompting some pundits to suggest that he is slowly but surely putting pressure on England No.9 Harry Ellis for a starting place at Leicester.

"I don't think we're quite seeing the best of Harry at the moment; he's carrying a few niggles," said Healey. "It would be unfair of me to cast any doubt over his form, so I'm just going to play as well as I can and if Pat and Cockers think I'm the right man for the job when the England players come back, I'd like to think I could step up to the mark and do a job for the team."

But before Tigers can worry about their team being back at full-strength, they have to get through a few weeks without their internationals, starting against the ultra-competitive Warriors this weekend, before successive matches against Gloucester (home), Sale Sharks (away) and London Irish (home).

"Worcester are a different side on a Friday night at Sixways; certainly from what I've seen of them this season they look like a championship-winning team," said Austin. "I think they've been the most physical team we've come up against this season, but we've got our own areas of strength we can use to our advantage .. we need to move their pack around and see what happens."

Aside from the physical challenge of facing Worcester, Tigers also need to recover from the heartbreak of last Saturday's gut-wrenching 6-12 Heineken Cup loss to Stade Français. Concluded Tigers' new skipper: "I think it will be easy for us to bounce back, not because of who we're playing against, but because of who's in our team. We've got loads of determined young men looking to prove a point - what could be better than that?"