WORCESTER Warriors ace Ben Te’o is expected to be fit for the start of the season after undergoing a “successful” operation on his quad muscle.

The explosive centre was forced to miss England’s tour to South Africa last month due to a leg injury with the Rugby Football Union saying he needed to undergo a “small repair”.

Director of rugby Alan Solomons confirmed Te’o had surgery to fix the problem and was confident he would be ready for Warriors’ first game of the 2018-19 Premiership campaign.

“I am very optimistic that he will be alright for the start of the season,” said Solomons in an interview in the Rugby Paper.

“His operation was successful and he is busy rehabbing at the moment.

“He is a very good professional who is being very diligent about that.

“We will give him a fortnight off to go away soon because he has not really had a break since being in that England camp in May.

“I am expecting him to start the new season strongly.”

South Africa extended England’s losing run to five when they won the opening two Tests before Eddie Jones’ side stopped the rot with victory in Cape Town.

Although England lost the series 2-1, Solomons reckons Jones and his players will go into the autumn internationals in a “positive state of mind”.

“They will be disappointed to lose the series but I thought they showed good resilience and I was pleased for their players and coaches because they put in a lot of effort to get that win in Cape Town,” Solomons said.

“Eddie has been under pressure but he is an astute coach who is hard working, intelligent and very experienced.

“He understands that you are never as good or bad as people make out.

“At least they can go into November now in a far more positive state of mind, although New Zealand are still the team to beat.

“France played very well recently but New Zealand with the speed of their game and their skill, execution and decision-making still lead the way.”