FIT-AGAIN fly-half Ryan Mills will be “key” to the success of Worcester Warriors in the Aviva Premiership this season.

That’s the view of flanker David Denton who has welcomed the return of the “cool-headed” and “confident” stand-off.

After spending the whole summer recovering from hip and shoulder problems, Mills was thrust straight into the starting line-up for Warriors’ trip to Gloucester last Friday.

The 25-year-old set up Perry Humphreys’ first try with a cross-field kick and his 74th minute penalty ensured Worcester claimed a point from their 24-19 defeat at Kingsholm.

And Denton, who also made his comeback from injury, was full of praise of Mills’ performance.

“Millsy adds a huge amount of experience and is a great player,” Denton said.

“I have only met him this season and I can see he has got a really cool head on his shoulders and is very confident.

“For someone who has just back you can see how confident he is by the way he moves the ball around especially with his boots.

“He plays rugby in the right places and I think that’s the key to being a good team.

“If you look at all the best teams, they are unbelievable in attack and play great running rugby but they play the game in the right areas of the pitch.”

Mills, who prefers to play at inside centre, came in for Tom Heathcote who was ruled out with concussion.

It looked like being a two-way battle between youngsters Jamie Shillcock and Sam Olver for the number 10 jersey.

But director of rugby Gary Gold decided to call upon Mills who was not due back for another two weeks.

“In the last few games Tommy and Sam have done well,” Denton added.

“But Millsy has got that little bit of experience and can help both of them.

“He can play at both 10 and 12, so it is going to give us a lot of options going forward.

“It is an attritional league and you are not going to be play what you would consider to be your starting 15 every week because boys are not going to be able to stick together for 30 games.”

Denton said he was also looking forward to linking up with scrum-half Francois Hougaard ahead of Warriors’ clash against Saracens on Friday.

The influential number nine is due to arrive at Sixways after being released by South Africa.

“I have played against him a couple of times, but I have never met him,” Denton added.

“But from what the boys say he is a great guy to have around the squad.”

“In this league you need to have depth in each positon and I think we do have that.”