ENGLAND'S preparations for their opening Test against Australia have been disrupted by the absence of Ben Te'o from a key practice session on Monday.

Te'o was forced to miss training ahead of Saturday's showdown at Suncorp Stadium due to "muscle soreness" and watched from the sidelines at the squad's Sanctuary Cove base.

The uncapped 29-year-old rugby league convert, who has joined Worcester Warriors, is competing with Luther Burrell and Owen Farrell to make his debut at inside centre.

A confusing afternoon saw vague messages emerge from the Grand Slam champions' camp after Te'o was first said to have been rested on medical advice, before the diagnosis of muscle soreness was offered along with the prediction that he will be able to train on Tuesday.

"It was on the advice of the medical department. He's all good and has settled in really well," defence coach Paul Gustard said.

"He's a good character and gives us something different, adding to our attacking options."

Te'o has spent two seasons at Leinster since switching codes in 2014 and will join Warriors upon his return from Australia..

The Auckland-born centre represented the Junior Kiwis, Queensland and Samoa at rugby league before having three options made available to him in international union, with England ultimately securing his allegiance.

Meanwhile, Australia head coach Michael Cheika claims he was unable to get Te'o to pledge his allegiance to the Wallabies due to the financial rewards in the Aviva Premiership.

“We would have loved to have Ben back here playing for Australia,” said Cheika.

“I wouldn't hesitate to say that we tried to get him to come back and play in Super Rugby but as we've seen before, the English game has more money than we have.

They've come in and have got a lot more resources to put in their game than we have.

“Sometimes you just can't compete with the pound, that's the way it is. I'm sure he'll do very well for England.”