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Dean Ryan admits he cannot wait for centre Ben Te’o to arrive at Worcester for the 2016/17 season
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The centre was this week named in England’s squad to tour Australia
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He’ll be eager to end his Leinster career on a high when his side face Connacht in the PRO12 final
Rugby league convert and soon to be England international Ben Te’o is a ‘supserstar’ accorording to his new boss at Worcester Warriors, Dean Ryan
The centre was recently named Player of the Season at Leinster and has progressed rapidly since his move from rugby league in 2014.
And Ryan believes they have found a gem who will excite Worcester fans next term.
“Ben’s arrival will be huge for us. The lad is a superstar and we’re going to see one of the best players in England at Sixways,” he told the club website.
“For him to go straight into the England squad gives you an indication of what he’s got and he’s going to be playing here in a Warriors shirt, which is just fantastic.”
Te’o played at Sixways in March 2015 when Warriors dispatched Leinster A to book their place in the British and Irish Cup final.
And Ryan admits it was during that game that he noticed the ability Te’o possessed.
He continued: “We saw Ben when he played for Leinster A at Sixways and we saw he could do things that other people can’t.
“All of a sudden others are wondering how they missed him and that’s the challenge of this club.
“We’re a club that has to see players before anyone else does. The reality of the recruitment table means that the top six or seven teams will have their pick first and we don’t want to be dealing with seventh or eighth choice players.”
“For him to go straight into the England squad gives you an indication of what he’s got and he’s going to be playing here in a Warriors shirt, which is just fantastic.”
Te’o played at Sixways in March 2015 when Warriors dispatched Leinster A to book their place in the British and Irish Cup final.
And Ryan admits it was during that game that he noticed the ability Te’o possessed.
He continued: “We saw Ben when he played for Leinster A at Sixways and we saw he could do things that other people can’t.
“All of a sudden others are wondering how they missed him and that’s the challenge of this club.
“We’re a club that has to see players before anyone else does. The reality of the recruitment table means that the top six or seven teams will have their pick first and we don’t want to be dealing with seventh or eighth choice players.”
And Ryan says the 29-year-old understands the journey Warriors are on.
He added: “There’s no point in a big star coming here unless he gets what we’re trying to do and Ben got it straight away.
“To tell someone living in Ireland about what we are doing here is a huge challenge but we were transparent about the challenges and rewards and he wanted to come to Sixways.”