A former rugby league player, Te'o followed Sam Burgess out the door of Sydney Rabbitohs and made the switch to union after 7 years playing league. Te'o is a powerful player who can play at inside and outside centre and is also a strong ball carrier. He began playing junior rugby league in his native NZ before moving to Gold Coast in Australia.
Te'o broke into the Wests Tigers NRL team in 2007 and won a Rugby League cap for Samoa in November 2008. After eight seasons in Australia's NRL, winning the title with the Rabbitohs in 2014, he was signed by Leinster for the 2014/2015 season.
During his final season with Leinster, Te'o was chosen as Leinster’s Players Player of the Year in early May. The Samoan rugby league international is also a big unit in defence and is known for his huge hits. Worcester Warriors secured the league convert for the 2016/17 season after he spent 2 years at Leinster.
Te'o qualifies to play for England through his English mother, having been born and raised in New Zealand. In October 2016, Te'o became one of 6 players to get included into England's 33-man squad for the 2016 Wealth Series. Te'o was included in the England squad for the November International against South Africa and made his International debut off the bench.
The Worcester centre made three appearances for England during the Autumn Series and provides the England back-line with a more direct approach at inside centre with his hard running lines. Despite just 3 years in Union, Te'o was somewhat surprisingly named in the British and Irish Lions squad to tour NZ. At his time of selection, he has made 8 England caps.
Te'o started the opening British and Irish Lions test against the All Blacks and came off the bench in the remaining two matches. The 20 test (18 with England, two with the Lions) centre missed out on England's Rugby World Cup squad and went on to sign with Toulon on short term deal having left Worcester Warriors.
In November 2019, he was named in Sunwolves' preliminary squad ahead of the 2020 Super Rugby season. He featured in 5 of the Sunwolves 6 Super Rugby matches in 2020 before the season was brought to an end and Te'o signed with the Brisbane Broncos for the remainder of the 2020 NRL season.
Career
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Leinster Rugby Inside Centre |
2014 - 2016 |
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British & Irish Lions Inside Centre |
2017 - 2017 |
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England Inside Centre |
2016 - 2019 |
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Worcester Warriors Inside Centre |
2016 - 2019 |
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RC Toulon Inside Centre |
2019 - 2020 |
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Sunwolves Inside Centre |
2020 - 2020 |
