WORCESTER Warriors will need two “extremely good” players in every position next season, according to versatile back Ryan Mills.

Director of rugby Gary Gold will be rebuilding the squad after 23 players left Sixways following Warriors’ 28-23 Aviva Premiership home defeat to Leicester Tigers last Saturday.

Mills played a leading role from fly-half in helping Warriors stave off relegation to the Championship.

He was called up to an England training camp this week with team-mates Will Spencer and Perry Humphreys.

But the Exeter-born player believes Warriors can vastly improve on their 11th-placed finish with a good pre-season under their belt.

“We had a frustrating start to the season,” recalled Mills, who missed the first two months of the campaign with a groin problem.

“When Dean Ryan left it put some uncertainty around the club and we had a pre-season which was already planned by the previous management.

“No-one fully knew what was going on and it was frustrating and then we didn’t get a smooth start to the season which we wanted.”

Mills was happy to wear the number 10 jersey as Warriors battled to stay in the top tier and eventually finished 13 points ahead of relegated Bristol.

However, he wants to play in the midfield for Worcester next term and fight for the number 12 jersey with the likes of Ben Te’o and Wynand Olivier.

“We want to move up to the top six clubs and when you are getting to those levels you need two extremely good players in each position,” he said.

“You need to be able to rotate your squad without having a drop in performance.

“You look at Saracens who rotate every two weeks and they have no drop in performance because their second guy is just as good as their first guy.

“We understand rugby is a squad effort and you might have a first choice and a second choice but every person in that match-day 23, or in your squad, has their roles to play.

“We were down to 55 per cent squad fitness at the start of the season and we suffered performance-wise and lost our whole starting backline from the previous season in the first game.

“I was out for six months and I didn’t play until November and it was pretty frustrating but the second half of the season was great. I didn’t miss a week and I enjoyed playing again.”

The 24-year-old, who signed a new deal with Warriors, has been assured the club will be striving to avoid three back-to-back relegation dog fights.

“If we want to get to the level we want to get to we have to cope with stuff like injuries because it’s a regular occurrence,” said Mills, who finished the season with 99 points from 12 Premiership matches.

“If we can get a great run for the first six games we will be in great shape for the new season and be able to kick on up the league table.”