POWERHOUSE Worcester Warriors centre Ben Te’o has revealed he’s “not a massive fan” of artificial playing surfaces.

The 29-year-old England squad member says he “doesn’t like” the synthetic pitches and believes rugby union “is meant to be played on real grass”.

Te’o will need to get used to the new state-of-the-art artificial grass pitch which has been installed at Sixways.

Other players, including full-backs Chris Pennell and Ben Howard and wing Cooper Vuna, are looking forward to the new surface.

And high performance director Nick Johnston believes the synthetic pitch may give Warriors an advantage when they play at home.

Warriors ripped up their old grass pitch this summer and converted to the latest generation of synthetic surface in readiness for the new Aviva Premiership season.

The new turf, which will cost Warriors a significant six-figure fee, allows more use for the club’s elite, academy and community rugby sections as well as hosting events and reducing maintenance costs.

The turf is also expected to offer players a consistently high-quality surface all year and in all weather conditions for training and playing.

However, Te’o is a traditionalist who prefers grass and gave his verdict on the surfaces which have also been adopted by the likes of Saracens, Newcastle Falcons and Cardiff Blues.

“I have played on a couple of artificial surfaces and they are alright,” said Te’o, who has joined Warriors after a successful two-season spell with Irish outfit Leinster.

“It’s faster and you can play all-year round on them.

“But I am not a massive fan – I don’t really like artificial pitches.

“That’s the way it’s going in Europe. Clubs are going that way probably due to the conditions and the commercial things.”

He added: “I’ve always thought that rugby is meant to be played on real grass but that’s the way it going up here at the moment.”