POWERHOUSE centre Ben Te’o will give Worcester Warriors a boost for their Aviva Premiership relegation run-in.

The former Leinster centre heads to Ireland tomorrow as England bid to convert their Six Nations title-winning campaign into a second successive Grand Slam triumph (5pm).

And Warriors director of rugby Gary Gold believes the 30-year-old will lift their squad as they head into a crucial season finale.

Due to an ankle injury and then international commitments Te’o has not played in the Premiership for Worcester since impressing in their home win against Harlequins on January 1.

He is expected to be back for Warriors’ trip to title-chasing Wasps in Coventry a week on Sunday (2.30pm).

“We need to have a conversation with Ben to see where his mind is,” said Gold.

“A guy of Ben’s quality who wants to come back, be a part and make a difference we would welcome back with open arms because he’s a world-class player.

“If you see the impact senior players like Francois Hougaard, Phil Dowson and Donncha O’Callaghan can have on the team there’s no doubt the boys will be buoyed by Ben’s return.

“England are victorious after another great Six Nations campaign irrespective of the result this weekend. To have a guy coming back who has starred in that so significantly is big for us.”

Te’o bagged his maiden England try and had a major part to play in their win against France.

He punched holes in Wales’ tiring defence in England’s dramatic win in Cardiff and the centre made a try-scoring first start against Italy.

But it has been a stop-start first season at Warriors for Te’o who has featured just six times in the Premiership, scoring three tries.

He suffered a bang on the head in the opening half of Worcester’s first home match against Gloucester which kept him out for a month.

And after autumn international duty with England Te’o aired his dismay about the direction and leadership at Sixways in a national report on the eve of the Boxing Day trip to Bristol.

He has not yet played under the direction of Gold who arrived at Sixways to take over first-team affairs at the end of January.

“Hopefully Ben has been happy to see the club have turned the corner somewhat and it would be brilliant to have him back (for the Wasps match),” said Gold.

“It’s always great to welcome back good guys and world-class players.”

Wynand Olivier and Jackson Willison have formed a dynamic midfield partnership in the absence of Te'o and impressed in Worcester’s 41-24 win against Bristol.

But Gold admits he would “consider breaking up continuity” for the trip to Coventry.

“One of the things I have very consciously tried to do is to create some form of continuity when injuries have allowed,” said Gold.

“I’ve tried to keep the players together because I know the combinations will grow as a group and I would like to think we have got a good return on that. But I would consider breaking up continuity.

“We will see where Ben is and let him concentrate on Ireland this weekend. Best of luck to him and I hope he continues in his rich vein of form.

“When an international player comes back from duty I don’t think anybody would be aggrieved if that player comes back into the team. It has always been a policy of mine.

“If a player is away on international duty of course he has the right to come straight back in.

“We will see where Ben is. He might say he is exhausted but I don’t think so. All the correspondence so far is that Ben is in a pretty positive mind to come (straight) back which is exciting for us.”