Jeremy Guscott column: Ben Te’o comes from League but he’s not Sam Burgess Mkll

Ben Te’o is an athlete who has the presence to be an international centre, which is what he will hope to be by the end of England’s three Test June tour of Australia. He brings a different presence to that of his old Rabbitohs team-mate Sam Burgess, and his inclusion in the England tour squad  shows that Eddie Jones has realised quickly that a lot of what he did in Australian Rugby League is transferable to Rugby Union.
He played Union as a youngster in New Zealand, and that familiarity has shown in what he has done for Leinster this season. Compared with Burgess it’s night and day, and he has shown real understanding, especially at the breakdown, which is usually a problem area for League converts.
Te’o’s physique is ideal for either inside-centre or outside-centre, and it’s no surprise that Worcester have snapped him up. He’s big, strong and athletic (6ft 2ins and 16st 7lbs), and has good skills when it comes to passing and off-loads. On top of that his tackling is abrasive, and it adds up to a confrontational package that makes the opposition wary.
Te’o was unlucky to come into a Leinster side experiencing a dip and, after breaking his arm in his first game, the danger was when he came back he’d try to do too much. However, he was smart enough not to make the mistake of trying to copy the Sonny Bill Williams off-loading game – even though he is pretty handy at laying the ball off in contact – and his direct running and strong defence earned him plaudits in the Irish Press.
Eddie Jones has been so keen to get Manu Tuilagi back in the England squad simply because he wants a destructive physical presence in his midfield, and I guess he sees Te’o as like for like now the Leicester centre has withdrawn with a hamstring injury. What you get with Te’o is perhaps more of a proven off-loader than Tuilagi. Now it’s just a question of the guys around him, like Owen Farrell, Jonathan Joseph and company to help him bed-in.
Te’o played well in Leinster’s recent Pro12 semi-final against Ulster, but he will have a lot to learn with England. However, he should fit in because he’s such a good athlete. I’d love to have had an inside-centre with his physique and power – and Joseph and Eliot Daly should be rubbing their hands together saying, ‘this is the perfect fit’. He’s shown already that he can draw defenders and slip the killer pass.
Rugby League players sometimes have a tendency to sit back and be a bit too quiet, mainly because they are trying to fit in. I hope that Te’o has the confidence to say how he thinks England can open up Australia. He seems relaxed and comfortable, and that’s not altogether surprising when you consider the big time rugby he has played with the Rabbitohs, and now Leinster.
He has experienced the Irish team’s inclusive culture – which is something   Eddie Jones also encourages. However, Te’o will realise quickly that with George Ford at fly-half and Farrell at inside-centre the competition for places will be fierce.
Farrell has improved markedly this season, and that was great tactical kicking from him at 10 in the European Cup final. Henry Slade is another in consideration at 12, and, although he is not as forceful as Farrell, he does everything with more subtlety. Where Slade is at a disadvantage is that he doesn’t yet have Farrell’s eye of the tiger when it comes to kicking crucial penalties.
Jones is an astute coach, and he’ll watch Te’o carefully in training while knowing that he will settle quickly in Aussie conditions. He will also know how easily Australia opened up England in the World Cup, and that could tempt him to make midfield changes for the first Test. My own hunch is that he will go with the Grand Slam line-up, and stick with the tried and tested 10-12 combination of Ford and Farrell – although if he picked Te’o I wouldn’t see it as a risk.
Jones is talking about winning the series, and to do that England will need to dominate territory against Australia – and they will need a goal-kicker of Farrell’s calibre to make the pressure pay. If Farrell is at 10, then it gives Jones the luxury of playing Te’o at 12, or moving him to 13 to mark the powerful Tevita Kuridrani.
Luther Burrell will also come into the equation if he has a good game against Wales today. He is proven and cuts decent running lines in attack.
His defensive game still needs upgrading but Burrell would slip into 12 comfortably.
I was surpsied to see Marland Yarde selected ahead of Chris Ashton because the Harlequins wing has been invisible for much of the season, whereas Ashton hasn’t. But Yarde’s performances on the 2014 tour of New Zealand were one of the few highlights, and I remember him running over Richie McCaw to score.
I’m sure Jones has got his four-year plan, and that he sees Yarde as one of those guys who is still young, can really push, and could possibly also be an option at outside-centre. That adds up to considerable potential, and I guess what Jones might be thinking is that where Yarde will be 27 by the 2019 World Cup in Japan, Ashton will be a 32-year-old veteran.
That said, Yarde is unlikely to make the starting line-up if Anthony Watson and Jack Nowell stay fit.
The forward addition that interests me is Teimana Harrison. The Northampton back-rower is a natural, who has good feet and is a really forceful runner. He runs as fast going into contact as he does in the approach to it, and not many English forwards do that. Whether he is an openside, I don’t know, but I don’t think it would make any difference whether he or James Haskell wore the No.7 shirt.
I cannot remember England having a coach as experienced as Eddie Jones. He knows the global game so well, and he’s learning the England game at the moment. I’m sure he’ll whip this England side into the shape to produce some really good performances in Australia.
There’s a bit of payback for the World Cup due, and after the Grand Slam they are a team high on confidence. The tries England scored in the Six Nations were from heads-up rugby, not pre-planned – and they created good quick ball, and used it well.
England will need to do the same again if they are to get one win in the series, let alone two, and much will depend on them staying fit and healthy. Most of the world will think that it will be at least a 2-1 series win for the home side, Australia, who were not only 2015 World Cup finalists, but are still No.2 in the world rankings.
England, and Jones, will be doing everything to upset that assumption.