RYAN Mills believes Worcester Warriors’ midfield unit will be more cohesive without Ben Te’o coming and going.

Te’o, 32, spent three years at Warriors but his lack of games due to injury and international duty frustrated supporters.

He played just 30 minutes for Worcester in the first four months last season before 12 outings in the second half.

New Zealand-born Te’o is now playing for French club Toulon after being axed by England ahead of the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Speaking to the Rugby Paper, Mills said: “It was difficult at times last year.

“That’s nothing against Ben whatsoever, he had some awesome games for us and is a great player but there’s quite a lot of uncertainty when players are in and out.

“It makes it difficult positionally and training-wise.

“You don’t really know whether you’re coming or going and a lot of things happen last minute but with the group we’ve got this year having us all here is bound to help our cohesion as a group."

Despite the exit of Te’o and retirement of Wynand Olivier, Mills reckons Warriors have a fine collection of centres.

“Myself, Ashley Beck and Will Butler fit that 12 role and then you’ve got Ollie Lawrence and Francois Venter as predominantly 13s with Ash able to do a hell of a job there as well,” Mills said.

“The competition here is awesome and it’s great we’ve got such good depth.

“We’ve got two younger boys in Will and Ollie who are willing to learn and then three more experienced players who are excited to be helping them grow.”

Ex-Gloucester player Mills is into his sixth season with Warriors and is just five games away from becoming a club centurion.

The 27-year-old starred in last weekend’s 57-23 win over Leicester Tigers but is expected to be rested for Saturday’s Premiership Cup trip to Bath (3pm).

“Although last season got a bit nervous at times from a relegation point of view, Harlequins only won two more games than us and finished fifth so we know we’ve got that improvement in us,” Mills added.

“We put in some big performances but then struggled to back them up so that’s something we’re massively looking to improve upon.”