GARY Gold’s “simple philosophy” paid dividends in guiding Worcester Warriors to Aviva Premiership safety, admits head coach Carl Hogg.

Gold pitched up at Sixways as the new director of rugby with Warriors just one point above a resurgent Bristol and embroiled in a two-way relegation shoot-out.

But the South African coach instilled confidence and self-belief into the side in the final nine league matches of the term.

He encouraged fly-half Ryan Mills to kick for territory to allow Warriors to play their rugby in more advanced areas of the field to hurt the opposition.

And with victories over Saracens, Bristol and Bath, Warriors finished 13 points above the Ashton Gate outfit in the battle to remain in the top tier of English rugby.

Hogg headed up first team affairs between July 2016 and January 2017 and was initially helped by Nick Johnston, who has since left the club.

But the former Scotland international was hamstrung by injuries to senior players and a leaky defence as he registered just two Premiership wins in his 13 Premiership matches in charge.

Hogg, who continues in the head coach role next term, said: “I think Gary brought in a very simple philosophy that clearly worked for us.

“There was no doubt we could score tries but whether we could play in the right areas of the field and shore up our defence were things we probably struggled with (earlier in the season).

“If you look at the front end of the season, there were periods in games when we looked a real threat.

“But we lacked resilience and robustness to see out the contest and that’s something Gary identified when he came in and was able to rectify.

“We will put a huge amount of focus and emphasis into that in the pre-season period and hopefully that will give us a springboard into the next campaign.”

Hogg was full of praise for Mills and Will Spencer, who trained with England in the build-up to their Test match against the Barbarians.

While injury forced Mills out of the reckoning, Spencer is on the bench for the clash and poised to win his first England cap.

“When Will and Ryan came back into our squad after injury it for made healthy competition in the squad,” said Hogg.

“If you want to be competitive in the Premiership you need 25 or 26 players.”

Hogg added: “You have to give Ryan a huge amount of credit for the way he played.

“The more he played at fly-half the more established and comfortable he looked.

“Ryan is traditionally a 12 but I thought he did a great job at 10.

“We’ve got young Jamie Shillcock who played very well at the start of the season so we have strength in depth across the (fly-half) position.”