Ryan set to hold centre stage – Lee

WASPS head coach Lee Blackett expects Ryan Mills to play ‘plenty of rugby’ next season after a stop-start campaign due to injury.

The talented inside centre (pictured) joined from Worcester Warriors in 2019 but featured only six times before suffering footbone break that would require two operations that would rule him out for 16 months.

Mills made his long-awaited comeback against Toulouse as a replacement in January and would play four more times, starting the Premiership defeats to Harlequins and Bristol Bears and the Premiership Cup win against Saracens.

However, the 30-year-old’s last outing came in the victory over his former club Worcester in late April, as Wasps kept faith with Jimmy Gopperth in his final weeks at the club for the European Challenge Cup clashes with Edinburgh and Lyon as well as the Gallagher Premiership win.

Mills’ name has not featured on the weekly unavailable player list and Blackett confirmed after the final round defeat to Leicester Tigers why the former England U20 back hasn’t featured in recent games.

“Millsy’s training really well,” he said. “It’s come down to these games where you need to win, we’ve probably gone with having that reliable goalkicker at 12, being a big thing.

“He just got back a fraction too late for us probably, but he’s been training really well, he’s looking like the normal Ryan Mills, so I fully expect him to be competing for a place next year and playing plenty of rugby.”

The Leicester Tigers match was the only game that lock Elliott Stooke missed all season following his fibula fracture in the penultimate game of the campaign against Sale Sharks.

“He’s still off-feet, he’ll be off-feet for another couple of weeks, and then we’ll try to get him moving slightly,” said Blackett. “But he’s going to be out for, four months will be the best case, it’s probably going to be nearer six.”