DIRECTOR of rugby Dean Ryan has revealed Worcester Warriors have been tracking new signing Ben Te’o for more than a year.

The 28-year-old Leinster centre will be arriving at Sixways in the summer and could form a strong partnership with South African Wynand Olivier.

Te’o is to become the third Auckland-born player on Worcester’s books and will follow in the footsteps of wings Cooper Vuna and Bryce Heem.

Te’o played for Leinster 'A' against Warriors at Sixways in March in the British and Irish Cup semi-final.

Ryan is delighted with the capture of Te’o, who made the switch from Rugby League after a career with Australian sides Wests Tigers, Brisbane Broncos and South Sydney Rabbitohs.

“We have tracked Ben for a long time; probably over a year now,” said Ryan.

“We thought there might have been a potential opportunity a bit earlier but it didn’t materialise so we were delighted when the opportunity came back. I think there is so much more potential to come from him.

“Ben gets what we are trying to do and to attract a player with so much potential who understands what we are trying to go through is something we have found difficult in the past.

“I am over the moon we have been able to convince him that Worcester is the right choice because we had to fight hard against obvious opposition.

“I think our story resonated with him and he’s really excited about coming here and getting involved.”

Te’o represented Samoa in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, scoring twice in his sole appearance against France, while he also featured seven times for Queensland in the Australian State of Origin series.

Te’o, who is English qualified, amassed 43 tries in 151 appearances before switching codes to join Guinness PRO12 side Leinster .

Despite suffering a broken arm on his debut for the Irish side, Te’o has gone on to make 23 appearances, scoring five tries.

Ryan said: “When we want to break into a different cycle of player, ever other club is in there too.

“We have done really well to identify players below the radar, people like Bryce (Heem) who we got before anyone else had seen him.

“To go in and be competitive and successful with a player like Ben who has a lot of choice and to still be transparent about where we are and what we are going to do and what our challenges are, sends a really powerful message.”

Te’o said: “Warriors are in a very similar stage in their playing and cultural development that I found when I first joined the Rabbitohs and I look forward to making a similar contribution at Sixways.

“The investment in facilities and infrastructure is impressive and, after speaking with Dean, it is clearly a club which is on the up.

“Everything is in place for Worcester to become a successful club competing in the top tier and I’m excited about getting started at Sixways."

He added: “I'd like to thank Leinster for giving me the opportunity to go back to union and to the fans for their support in particular when I was out injured. I look forward to finishing the season with Leinster as strongly as possible."