The England captain Phil Vickery has allayed fears about his long-term fitness following a scan on a neck problem which seems certain to rule him out of Wasps' opening Heineken Cup pool game against Munster at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday.

Vickery has not done any contact work since leading his country in the World Cup final against South Africa last month but, after visiting the specialist and surgeon who oversaw his most recent recovery from neck surgery, he is optimistic about his playing future. "I swear on my mother's life it's nothing serious," he insisted today. "I just wanted specialists who know my neck to have a look at it. I'm not sure exactly when I'll be back. I want to play for the whole season, not just for a couple of weeks."

In the absence of Vickery and fellow front-rowers Pat Barnard, Tom French and James Buckland, Wasps are set to rely on Tim Payne and Nick Adams at prop against Munster. Joe Worsley is another long-term absentee, the unfortunate Tom Rees took a knock at the weekend and Josh Lewsey is still receiving treatment on the torn hamstring which ruled him out of the 15-6 final defeat to the Springboks in Paris.

Even so Wasps are looking forward to launching the defence of their title against a Munster side whom they have not met since the epic Heineken Cup semi-final between the teams in Dublin in 2004. So far, however, only half of the 32,000 available tickets have been sold and Wasps are eager to boost the attendance after switching the game from the 10,000-capacity Adams Park in High Wycombe.

"I don't believe for one minute that Wasps would have chosen to take us to the Ricoh Arena if they thought it was going to put them at a disadvantage," warned the Munster and Ireland fly-half O'Gara. "They are one of the most professional sides in club rugby and the venue will not act against them."