WORCESTER Warriors have announced the signing of Leinster’s Ben Te’o ahead of the 2016/17 season.
The club have further illustrated their ambition to become a competitive force in the Aviva Premiership by announcing today (Tuesday), the signing of powerful Leinster centre, Ben Te’o.
The 28-year-old will provide Warriors with further attacking impetus after excelling in the Guinness PRO12 and European Champions Cup over the last two seasons.
Auckland-born Te’o made the switch from Rugby League in 2014, where he enjoyed a fine career with Australian sides Wests Tigers, Brisbane Broncos and South Sydney Rabbitohs – the latter with whom he won the National Rugby League title.
Te’o represented Samoa in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, scoring twice in his sole appearance against France, and also featured seven times for Queensland in the Australian State of Origin series.
Te’o, who is English qualified, amassed an impressive 43 tries in 151 appearances before switching codes to join Leinster, and since making his debut in October 2014, he has gone on to make 23 appearances scoring five tries for the Irish outfit.
“Warriors are in a very similar stage in their playing and cultural development that I found when I first joined the Rabbitohs, and I look forward to making a similar contribution at Sixways,” said T’eo.
“The investment in facilities and infrastructure is impressive and after speaking with Dean, it’s clearly a club which is on the up.
“Everything is in place for Worcester to become a successful club competing in the top tier and I’m excited about getting started at Sixways.
“I’d like to thank Leinster Rugby for giving me the opportunity to go back to Union and to the fans for their support, in particular when out injured. I look forward to finishing the season with Leinster as strong as possible,” he added.
Dean Ryan, Warriors Director of Rugby said: “Ben is a really exciting talent and has proved he is more than capable of transferring his skills from League to Union.
“His experience and power in the centre will add further depth to our midfield and we’re looking forward to him joining up with the side.”