BEN Te’o’s New Zealand roots are helping him to form a “settled” midfield partnership with Jackson Willison, according to boss Alan Solomons.

The Auckland-born centre starred alongside Kiwi ace Willison in Warriors’ 23-17 victory over Newcastle Falcons last weekend.

And Solomons is confident the centre pairing will keep getting better as they look set to combine at Wasps tomorrow (3pm).

“I think that (partnership) has worked very well with Jacko at 12 and Ben at 13,” Solomons said.

“We have moved it around as you would have seen in the game against Sale in attack and defence. But it has settled nicely now.

“There is also a bit of background history with the boys as Jacko is from Waikato and Benny is from Auckland.

“Bryce (Heem) is also from Auckland so immediately you get a bit of something going which helps.”

After going on tour with the British and Irish Lions to New Zealand, Te’o played in Warriors’ first seven games.

An ankle injury against Brive in October forced the 31-year-old out for several months before making his return in the Six Nations.

Te’o made his first outing for Warriors in more than five months when he started in their 58-25 defeat at Sale Sharks.

“Ben needed that game to adjust,” Solomons said.

“He had come straight off the back of the Six Nations. I gave him, Dave Denton and Josh Adams a break then he came back and had a much better game last weekend.”

Bath, Leicester Tigers and Sale Sharks have been linked with a summer move for Te’o but the ex-Leinster ace insisted he would see out his Warriors contract which finishes at the end of the 2018-19 campaign.

Solomons described Te’o as a “consummate professional” and said he was looking forward to seeing him in action against Wasps.

“Ben will just continue to improve,” Solomons said. “He is a quality player and is getting used to combinations.

“This will be his and Jacko’s third game together and the more they play together the better they will become.

“The more he plays with everyone like Bryce, Josh and Penns (Chris Pennell) it makes a big difference.

“But it is great to have him in the side. Ben is a consummate professional and adds a lot of value to us.

“He will be raring to do his best so I am looking forward to seeing him play at the weekend.”