Ben Te'o

Ben Te'o (born 27 January 1987) is a rugby league footballer who plays for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League (NRL). He previously played for the Wests Tigers, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Queensland in the State of Origin series and represented Samoa at international level before switching to rugby union, where he represented England.

Ben Te'o
Personal information
Full nameBenjamin Te'o
Born (1987-01-27) 27 January 1987
Auckland, New Zealand
Height189 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight106 kg (16 st 10 lb)
Playing information
Rugby league
PositionSecond-row, Lock, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2007–08 Wests Tigers 36 10 0 0 40
2009–12 Brisbane Broncos 75 28 0 0 112
2013–14 South Sydney 41 5 0 0 20
2020– Brisbane Broncos 15 1 0 0 4
Total 167 44 0 0 176
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2008 Samoa 1 2 0 0 8
2012–14 Queensland 7 0 0 0 0
Rugby union
PositionCentre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2014–16 Leinster 51 6 0 0 30
2016–19 Worcester Warriors 36 8 0 0 40
2019 Toulon 6 0 0 0 0
2020 Sunwolves 5 0 0 0 0
Total 98 14 0 0 70
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016-19 England 16 2 0 0 10
2017 British and Irish Lions 2 0 0 0 0
As of 21 August 2019
Source: [1][2]

Background

Te'o was born in Auckland, New Zealand. His father is Samoan and his mother is English.

He was a Hibiscus Coast Raiders junior, and was selected to play for the New Zealand Under 16s in 2003 and was also a member of the 2005 Junior Kiwis. He also played rugby union as a junior. Te'o moved to Australia at the age of 17 and lived on the Gold Coast in Queensland, playing rugby league with Keebra Park State High School.[3]

Rugby league career

Wests Tigers

In the 2007 NRL season Te'o debuted for the Wests Tigers in Round 9 against the St George Illawarra Dragons, and scored his first try in first grade the next week against the New Zealand Warriors. Te'o played 14 games and scored 2 tries in the 2007 season. In September 2007, he was called into the New Zealand national rugby league team train-on squad with several other Wests Tigers players but was not selected for the tour of Great Britain.[4][5] Te'o played 22 games and score 8 tries in the 2008 NRL season.

He was named in the Samoa squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[6] He was overlooked for the first two Samoa matches, but made his international debut on 9 November at CUA Stadium against France, scoring two tries.[7]

Brisbane Broncos

Te'o signed with the Brisbane Broncos for the 2009 season.[8][9] He made his debut for the Broncos at Second Row in Round 1 against the North Queensland Cowboys

Te'o played 18 games and scored 4 tries in his first year for the Broncos in 2009.

In May 2010, he was named in the Queensland Maroons squad to play against the Blues. Te'o pledged his allegiance to the Australia and the Maroons being named as the 18th man for Game 1.

It was announced on 5 June 2010, that Te'o had signed a contract extension which would see him remain at the Broncos until the end of the 2012 season.

On 2 May 2012, it was announced Te'o had agreed to terms with the South Sydney Rabbitohs up until the end of the 2015 NRL season. Later that year, he was selected to make Origin debut for the Maroons in game 3.

South Sydney Rabbitohs

Te’o joined the Rabbitohs in 2013. Te’o represented Queensland and was selected in the Australian squad in 2012. Keen to establish himself as a starting forward in the Rabbitohs pack in 2013.

Te'o played all three games of the 2013 State of Origin series from the interchange bench, helping Queensland extend their record for consecutive series victories to eight. In the 2014 pre-season Te'o played for the Rabbitohs in the 2014 NRL Auckland Nines tournament. He played from the interchange bench in all three games of the 2014 State of Origin series, which Queensland lost.

Te'o scored a crucial try against the Sydney Roosters in the semi final of the 2014 NRL finals series, upon returning from suspension for a chicken wing tackle on Sam Thaiday.

On 4 June 2014, Te'o announced that he would be leaving the Rabbitohs at the end of the season.[10]

Te'o played in the Rabbitohs premiership winning side in the 2014 NRL Grand Final.

Brisbane Broncos (second stint)

On 4 June 2020, Te'o returned to the Brisbane Broncos, signing with the club for the rest the 2020 season.[11]

Rugby union career

Leinster

On 12 August 2014, Leinster announced Te'o had signed to play for them after the end of the 2014 NRL season.[12] Te'o broke his arm within the first twenty minutes of his Leinster professional debut. After only three weeks he was named in the starting squad for Leinster after coach Matt O'Connor described him as an outstanding athlete.

Worcester Warriors

On 22 December 2015, Te'o signed with English club Worcester Warriors in the Aviva Premiership from the 2016–17 season.[13]

Toulon

On 21 August 2019, Te'o signed with French side RC Toulonnais.[14]

Sunwolves

In 2020, Te'o signed with Japanese Super Rugby club the Sunwolves. He left the club after the cancellation of the 2020 Super Rugby season.

International

In May 2016 Te'o was called up by England coach Eddie Jones for the tour of Australia.[15] He scored his first England try after coming on as a replacement against France on 4 February 2017.[16] He made his international starting debut on 26 February 2017, against Italy during the six nations.

Te'o played in the 2017 Lions Tour to New Zealand. He started the 1st test at inside centre.

Te'o returned from injury to start his second test for England against Italy in the opening round of the Six Nations and went on to feature in all of England's 2018 Six Nations matches.[17]

International tries
As of 7 July 2019[18]
TryOpposing teamLocationVenueCompetitionDateResultScore
1 FranceLondon, EnglandTwickenham Stadium2017 Six Nations4 February 2017Win19 – 16
2 ItalyLondon, EnglandTwickenham Stadium2017 Six Nations26 February 2017Win36 – 15

Controversy

In 2013, Te'o was cleared of assault after an altercation at a home in Brisbane.[19] He claimed a woman attacked him with a stiletto and he acted in self-defence. The woman was left unconscious.[20]

Footnotes
  1. Ben Te'o at the Rugby League Project
  2. http://203.166.101.37/NRL08/playercareer.asp?lplayer=70091 NRL
  3. "Leinster looms as Te'o eyes code switch".
  4. "2003 New Zealand 16's". New Zealand Rugby League. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007.
  5. "Kiwis and Junior Kiwis train-on squads announced". New Zealand Rugby League. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007.
  6. "Samoa, Tonga and Fiji name squads". BBC. 8 October 2008. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
  7. Tamara Mclean (9 November 2008). "Te'o double inspires Samoa win". Fox Sports News (Australia). Retrieved 10 November 2008.
  8. Steve Ricketts (28 August 2008). "New-look Broncos tipped to kick on in 2009". Courier mail. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  9. "2009 NRL Player Movements". NRL Live. 4 October 2008. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
  10. "Te'o confirms Souths exit". NRL.com. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  11. https://www.broncos.com.au/news/2020/06/04/teo-joins-broncos-for-2020/
  12. "Leinster sign centre Ben Te'o". Irish Independent. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  13. "Worcester Warriors sign Leinster centre Ben Te'o". BBC Sport. 22 December 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  14. "Toulon recrute l'international anglais Ben Te'o". Le Figaro. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  15. "Eddie Jones says Chris Ashton can make England squad if he 'fixes' game". BBC Sport. 22 May 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  16. "Six Nations: England beat France 19-16 to start title defence with win". BBC. 4 February 2017.
  17. "RFU - England". Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  18. "Ben Te'o". 7 July 2019.
  19. Massoud, Josh (18 July 2013). "NRL star Ben Te'o cleared of assault claims against Brisbane woman Katie Lewis". The Daily Telegraph.
  20. Badel, Peter (22 May 2013). "Brisbane woman Katie Lewis last night claimed she was not spilong beer like himself, left lying in a pool of blood after being punched by Ben. Te'o". Herald Sun.
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