WORCESTER Warriors are moving in the right direction, according to experienced centre Wynand Olivier.

The Sixways outfit have safeguarded their Aviva Premiership status and travel to Newcastle Falcons on Friday (8pm) in their penultimate match of the campaign.

Skipper Donncha O’Callaghan, 38, has penned a new deal with Warriors but Olivier, who turns 34 in June, is out of contract in the summer.

Warriors finished 10th last term but look set to come 11th this campaign after a turbulent season which saw Gary Gold arrive as director of rugby at the end of January.

“It’s a lot of fun out on the pitch and the boys are enjoying it and backing one another which is a great thing,” said Olivier.

“Everyone is sticking to the game-plan and has bought into it and it’s nice to be a in a team environment like that where you are not just having fun off the field but on the field too.

“We are moving upwards which is a nice thing and with that there are a lot of youngsters coming through.

“Spenny (Will Spencer) is having a brilliant season and players like Perry Humphreys and Josh Adams have been given opportunities and it’s nice to be involved with that.

“A lot of the guys have stuck their hands up. You can see the boys want to be here and everyone is happy. There has been a couple of changes and the club is moving in the right direction.”

Olivier, who has won 38 Test caps for South Africa, has played 21 times for Worcester this term, scoring eight tries.

He touched down within minutes of coming off the bench in Warriors’ 25-19 victory against Bath in their last outing.

“All the boys did the hard work for the 50 minutes so it was quite easy to come on,” he said.

“They made it a lot easier just to slot in and to see the holes (in Bath’s defence).

“I was on the sidelines for 50 minutes so you can see the possibilities.

“But a lot of credit must go to all the boys. They worked hard and that’s what allowed me the opportunity to score.”

Olivier has formed a solid midfield partnership for most of the season with Jackson Willison.

However, there is fierce competition in the centres with Ben Te’o. Ryan Mills wants to play at inside centre next season.

“It’s always to nice to start matches but it’s a long season and the Premiership is a tough competition,” said Olivier.

“It’s great to see other boys to get an opportunity to play a bit and if and when I can make an impact it’s always nice to be involved whether that’s on the bench or in the starting line-up.”

He added: “I think Gary and the coaching staff have just simplified things a lot which has brought about a lot of confidence in the boys.

"It have given guys like Will and a couple of the other boys the ability to play the game they want to play. They know exactly where they need to be at certain times on the pitch and it helps.

“At the end of it, it gives us backs quality ball for us to play around with and score a couple of tries.

“We got the win against Bath, which was brilliant, but if Bristol had beaten Wasps we would have just rolled on to the next game against Newcastle.”