No frills on Jon Mills as he swims with the Sale Sharks

Jon MillsIn his heart he'll always be a Dragon, but Jon Mills is now prepared to do whatever it takes to stoke the fires at his new club,
As tenacious and committed as they come, the Neath-born forward, who captained in the last season, is one of four Exiles to head north to join the under-performing .
Wingers Tom Arscott and Phil Mackenzie and Russia lock Kirill Kulemin join the 29-year-old in making a fresh start in Salford.
Sale boss Steve Diamond has made a total of nine new signings as he looks to put last season's troubled campaign to bed, and in lock/back-rower Mills they have signed a player, who, by his own admission, is more Northern grit than ‘flash Harry' in his style of play.
Given the lack of impact made by marquee signing Richie Gray, Sale fans will probably regard this as a positive; after all Dean Schofield, a real fans' favourite at the club, was a big man with a big heart who did the basics extremely well.
“I'm bit of an old school player in many ways, I'll graft all day, work hard, and put my body on the line. I'm very proud of what I do,” Mills told The Rugby Paper.
“I'm not one of these flashy players who go through and score lots of tries, others can do that, I make my tackles and do the hard yards. In rugby you need a mix of different types of players.”
London Welsh's demotion to the resulted in Mills calling time on an eventful seven-year stay at the Exiles.
“I'm 29 now and it would have been silly of me to say no to a Premiership option,” he said.
“Obviously it was hard for me to leave London Welsh because I had seven great years and my time there has got me where I am today – in the Premiership. I'm extremely grateful to them for that.
“Previously no-one was prepared to take a chance on me and some of the other boys, but we all had a good season last year, albeit in a relegation campaign and that put us in the shop window.
“I'm up here at Sale now and I'm loving every minute of it; the club seems good and is really ambitious and there's a good bunch of lads who want to move on from last year.
“Everyone is focused on getting off to a good start and hopefully we can finish with a spot, either through the league or by winning a trophy.
“On a personal level I'm looking forward to proving myself all over again at a new ground and in a new structure with new players around me. Hopefully being here will make me a better player.”
With his unswerving work ethic and ‘old school' rugby values, Mills looks every inch a Steve Diamond type of player.
He added: “Lyn Jones (former London Welsh boss) worked you hard when you were on the park but you could have a bit of fun with him, too, and Steve seems very similar in that respect.
“You can have a bit of banter with him but he expects his players to work hard, which is how it should be.  At the end of the day all coaches are a bit special; you've got to be mad to be a coach.”
JON NEWCOMBE

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