Te'o fit for Six Nations after funding own rehab

Ben Te'o is fit and raring to go in England's opening Six Nations match with Italy next weekend after funding his own rehabilitation from an ankle injury.

Te'o has been sidelined since October with the issue but put himself through a six-week recovery programme in Australia to give him a chance of featuring for Eddie Jones' side.

The centre forked out roughly £5,000 of his own money to pay for a training camp with former NRL colleagues Rob Godbolt and Andrew Croll in Brisbane.

And it has paid dividends with Te'o back in time for England's trip to Rome on February 4.

"I feel coming back that I'm just so hungry to get back into it," he said. "The ankle feels really good.

"We are all competing for spots and there is just so much talent here.

"I really enjoyed it last year, so hopefully I get another opportunity. My goal is to be a part of it."

Te'o – who has eight caps to his name – could have undertaken a programme at Worcester Warriors, but he felt getting away maximised his chances of making an international return.

"I was training three times a day, I enlisted a highly experienced physio and trainer over there so that the full focus was on me," he added.

"Sometimes when you are doing rehab at a club, then there are other players the physios need to see, so you have to fit in with them. Over there it was all tailored to me, I tidied up my diet, dropped a few kilos.

"I felt it was going to be important for me to go away and I don't mind picking up the tab for that.

"The RFU [Rugby Football Union] and Worcester were great throughout the process and there was a lot of collaboration between us and the physios to make sure we were on schedule and ticking all the boxes."