Advertisement

Share this article


Former Leinster centre Ben Te'o has signed for French Top 14 side Toulon after being left out of England's Rugby World Cup squad.

The New Zealand-born player's omission cam after reports of a clash with England teammate Mike Brown at a training camp.

The contract he has signed with Toulon only runs until November, when the Rugby World Cup ends, but there is already speculation that he could stay until the end of the season.

Te'o was released by Worcester at the end of the Premiership season and was linked with moves to Japan, Australia and France, as well as a possible return to rugby league, the sport that he left in 2014 to join Irish side Leinster.

The Irish province signed Te'o at the end of the 2014 NRL season and, after he recovered from a broken arm, he went on to make 51 appearances with the Blues.

Te'o moved to Worcester Warriors three years ago and then went onto to earn 16 caps with England while he also toured New Zealand with the British & Irish Lions.

The 32-year-old was in contention to go to the Rugby World Cup with Eddie Jones' squad but when the head coach revealed his 31-man squad over a week ago, Te'o's name was missing.

Jones refused to confirm whether he was omitted after the clash with Brown but admitted that there could be off-the-field issues that arise during the tournament.

"I’m sure we’ll have our problems and we’ll deal with it," said Jones. "We’re like any family – everyone sits around the dining table, everyone enjoys good conversation but you know there are problems and we’re exactly the same.

"We’ve got 31 sitting around the table, we can have nice conversations [but] you know potentially there’s a problem. The players – they are adults, they’re responsible, they want to play for England and we could have some problems.

"If we do, we’ll deal with them."

Everyone’s in the Team Of Us.

Vodafone. The Official Sponsor of the Irish Rugby Team.


Share this article


You might like