The Australian Rugby Union tried to sign England centre Ben Te’o so that he could play for the Wallabies but couldn’t match the money he was offered in England.

That was the word from Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika who said he expects the former NRL stalwart to impress for England during their upcoming three-Test tour of Australia.

“We would’ve loved to have Ben back here playing for Australia,” Cheika told reporters on Friday.

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

“They’ve come in, think they’ve 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.”