CENTRE Ben Te’o showed a “huge amount of courage” to front up in Worcester Warriors’ 24-10 defeat against Wasps on Sunday.

That’s the view of director of rugby Gary Gold who praised the 30-year-old’s “great” performance after the Aviva Premiership clash at Sixways.

Te’o was forced off in Warriors’ opening-day 35-8 loss at Newcastle Falcons last week with an arm injury.

But the England and British and Irish Lions star overcame the problem to start at inside centre for Worcester against Wasps.

Gold said Te’o’s arm was “sore” as he was replaced with 13 minutes to go, but was keen to commend his bravery.

“Ben has got a plate in (his arm), so it is sore and whenever he gets a bang on it gets a little bit sorer,” Gold said.

“But there was a huge amount of courage shown by him after last week when he left the field in the first start to then starting on Sunday.

“I thought he put in a great performance.

“He was very strong with ball in hand and was very solid. He showed that he is a world class player.

“He probably does have quite a bit of pain there, so you have to give him huge credit for the fight he put up for us before he had to come off the field.”