“TOP-END players” have been snapped up by Worcester Warriors for next season and full-back Chris Pennell expects further arrivals over the summer.

The signing of South African scrum-half Francois Hougaard proved a major catalyst for Warriors and led to the Sixways side pulling away from the Aviva Premiership drop zone.

With powerful centres Ben Te’o and Jackson Willison arriving from Irish outfit Leinster and French Top 14 club Grenoble respectively in the summer, Pennell is excited about Worcester’s future.

Worcester-born Pennell said: “We are recruiting very strongly and I am sure there will be some more going on over the summer now we know we’re a Premiership team.

“We seem to be adding some quality and the squad needs strength in depth.

“We need to be able to rotate some weeks so we need as many players as possible.

“If someone was to fall over due to injury, for example, we need the next person inline to be able to step right up there in terms of quality.

“We are recruiting top-end players so that’s upping everyone’s standards.”

In addition to Te'o and Willison, Warriors have captured lock Will Spencer from Bath and hooker Matt Williams from Northampton Saints.

Backrow Marco Mama, who had a loan spell at Warriors before returning to parent club Bristol, will be coming back to Sixways on a permanent basis in the summer.

And fellow backrow Dewald Potgieter, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, has also signed on at Worcester until the end of next season.

Pennell said: “We’ve had it (top end players) in the past but I wouldn’t necessarily say we had a strong enough core at Worcester to be able cope with it.

“You speak to some fans who will say some big-name players came to Worcester for a pension but I am not sure that was the case.

“If we have the right environment in the club already, then people who come in will be inspired and motivated by it.”

Meanwhile, rookie lock Christian Scotland-Williamson has been given the all-clear to return to rugby after a long-term pelvic injury.

The 22-year-old former Loughborough Students second-row has not featured for Warriors since playing 53 minutes against Moseley in the Championship in September 2014.

Scotland-Williamson also played at Bristol on the opening day of last season before injury struck.

But Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan said: “He (Scotland-Williamson) needed a final assessment by the original consultant who has now given him the all-clear to return to rugby which is great news for Christian because it has been a long wait.

“There was a fracture site which wasn’t healing at the pace in his pelvis at the pace it needed to so he’s had to wait quite a long time to get that bone growth.

“We are quite pleased Christian has got clearance and we can start the process of him being integrated back in.”