Worcester fans aren't looking back fondly on Ben Te'o unsuccessful Premiership spell
Worcester Warriors fans on social media aren’t fondly looking back at their time with Ben Te’o, who is joining Toulon on a three-month deal as a medical joker for the duration of the World Cup.
Te’o had already left Worcester at the end of last season and was unattached while in the England camp, but after failing to make Eddie Jones’ World Cup squad – perhaps due to a fracas with Mike Brown – he has opted for a cross-channel move to the big-spending Top 14 giants.
This ends the 32-year-old’s international career and will prevent him from being called up to the World Cup squad in the event of an injury. However, many felt his omission from the squad to travel to Japan all but ended his Test career anyway.
Since moving to Worcester from Leinster in 2016, Te’o may have reached lofty heights in international rugby, but his club career barely took off.
He played 16 Tests for England, winning the Six Nations in 2017, as well as playing twice for the British and Irish Lions in the Test series draw against the All Blacks. The powerful centre was brought in by Warren Gatland to negate his former rugby league rival Sonny Bill Williams.
Unwanted England midfielder Ben Te'o has revealed what he will be to during the World Cup https://t.co/xWnLefAYT3
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 21, 2019
On the other hand, across the three years, Te’o only managed to play 36 games for Worcester as he struggled with injuries and seemed to surface as soon as the Test window opened.
Worcester fans – as well as many others across England – have criticised his commitment levels due to what transpired with the Warriors. Now that he has cashed in on a lucrative move to France, he has also been labelled a mercenary.
Then again, if his England career is over, some do not blame him for trying to make as much money as possible as his career winds down.
? Recrutement – Ben Te'o s'engage avec le @RCTofficiel comme joker Coupe du Monde ! https://t.co/60z4M4IfR3
— RCT – RC Toulon (@RCTofficiel) August 21, 2019
Te’o, though, has been compared to his former Warriors teammate Francois Hougaard, who joined at the same time, but has given everything for his team and established himself as one of the club’s best players.
The centre promised to be a huge signing for the Warriors, but the fans are looking back at a player that played one game for England or the Lions for every two games he played for the Warriors, which is staggering. This is what has been said:
Ben Te’o moving to Toulon after managing only 36 games for Worcester over 3 years at over £30k per game! No loyalty to the club!
— Tom Haslam (@T_Haslam) August 21, 2019
Over the same time we have had @FHougaard9 who could not make himself more of a club man for @WorcsWarriors – Teo just didn’t make an effort to make it look like he wanted to be here.
— Neil Clifton (@NeilClifton) August 21, 2019
The very definition of a rugby mercenary. A sad blot on englands copybook.
— Neil (@Wrecker59) August 21, 2019
Stolen a living imo
— RockNRun85 (@RockNRun85) August 21, 2019
Mercenary, but fair play to him
— Mooro (@tom_mooro) August 21, 2019
Ben Te’o is the prime example of the rugby mercenary.
He’s represented three countries, the British and Irish lions and Queensland at state of origin!
He’s a prime example of where rugby has gone wrong.— OnTheRoadToNirvana (@JHC17626935) August 22, 2019
The reaction is disappointing for the 2014 NRL winner whose international career with England has now also ended in ignominy.
WATCH: Jonny May and George Ford set the scene ahead of England’s World Cup warm-up match against Ireland
Comments on RugbyPass
Great story. Rugby needs new investment in teams like Brussels another pro league in Europe would be great.
1 Go to commentsAlso, looking at the data from last year, it seemed like by far the two biggest predictors of success were (1) kicking more than your opponents, and (2) having a higher rate of line-out wins than your opponents. I haven’t gone through the stats this year with a fine tooth comb, but the increase in kicks per game and the increase in tries from lineouts would suggest that these two metrics are only getting more important. England’s move away from a kick-heavy game to win against Ireland was seen by some as evidence that running rugby is on the rise. Alternatively it could be taken as evidence that if one team kicks more, and the other team wins more lineouts (as England did) a match is bound to be close to a draw.
2 Go to commentsI have been finding it odd that points per 22 entry has become such a talked about stat, given that your points per entry can be driven down by having more entries. These data would seem to confirm that it isn’t a useful metric, or at any rate is less useful than total entries.
2 Go to commentsI think the last two games England have played is some of their best rugby they have played under Borthwick. There has been a lot more attacking instinct and as a reward have created some well worked tries. Ollie Lawrence is a good foil at 12 as he offers the hard direct lines whilst the rest of the backs can play open. As much as it pains me to say but I do hope England keep playing this way. On a side note my favourite try of the weekend was Lorenzo Pani’s for the nice loop play that put him away and his finish was excellent. Thanks as always Nick.
39 Go to commentsMost exciting player on the planet right now, worth the price of a ticket.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
23 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
39 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
6 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
39 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
4 Go to commentsFour Kiwis in that backline. A solid statement on the lack of invention, risk-taking and joy in the NH game; game of attrition and head- banging tedium. Longterm medical problems aplenty in the future!
6 Go to comments