THE “challenge” for Worcester Warriors’ midfield duo is to keep Ben Te’o out of the starting line-up when he returns from international duty.

That’s the message from Jackson Willison who believes his centre partnership with South African World Cup winner Wynand Olivier is “getting stronger and stronger”.

Te’o is enjoying an impressive Six Nations campaign for England, coming off the bench to score a maiden try against France and having a major impact as a late replacement in the dramatic victory over Wales.

He is expected to start in England’s match against Italy on Sunday (3pm) and will not be returning to Warriors until after the nation's showdown with Ireland on March 18 (5pm).

New Zealand-born Willison crossed the whitewash in the dying seconds of Warriors’ 48-32 defeat against Exeter Chiefs last Saturday to salvage a crucial try-scoring bonus point.

It was Willison’s second try in 14 Premiership appearances from Warriors since joining the club in the summer from French club Grenoble.

His centre partner Olivier, 33, has snapped up three tries in 14 Premiership matches this term.

Willison said: “I think we are getting stronger and stronger (as a midfield partnership) and I know how good a player Wynand is.

“It’s a challenge for me to get up to Wynand’s level and it’s been good to have Millsy (Ryan Mills) on side with us.”

Te’o has played six times for Warrior in the top tier this term, scoring three tries.

Due to England duty, New Zealand-born Te’o will miss Warriors’ trip to Northampton Saints on Saturday (3pm) and their vital relegation home clash against bottom-of-the-table Bristol on March 5 (3pm).

Willison, 28, said: “Ben (Te’o) is doing well for England and the challenge for us is to try to make it as hard as we can for him to get into the starting line-up when he arrives back at Worcester.”

Willison says Warriors viewed the loss against Chiefs as “slightly disappointing”.

“I stuffed up a try against Saracens so it was good to get over at the end against Exeter,” he said.

“I felt we had missed a few opportunities earlier. We knew it had to be an 80-minute performance from us but we came up slightly short.

“We will look back on it and be slightly disappointed we didn’t get a positive result.

“But there was a lot of character out there and we showed it right until the end and we will have to build on it.

"We were aware of the hiding we got at Exeter and we wanted to change things and the feeling was definitely different from that first game."

Willison is now hoping Warriors can improve on their away form as they head to Northampton aiming for a first Premiership point on the road.

“It’s another important game and we will definitely be going up there to win,” said Willison.

“I missed the first game against Northampton because I was getting married so hopefully I will be there this weekend to help out the guys.”