Israel Folau will make his first start in international rugby since 2019 as he seals his switch to Tonga with a debut against Fiji this Saturday.
The Australian-born full-back and fundamentalist Christian, 33, made 73 appearances for the Wallabies between 2013 and 2019 before having his Rugby Australia contract terminated for a homophobic post he made on Instagram.
And Folau’s selection confirms his adoption of a new country, allowed by new rules introduced by World Rugby in late 2021.
Under the rules, a player who was born in a nation, or whose parents and grandparents were born in that nation, is now allowed to make one transfer to a new nation over the course of their career, if they have not played for the original nation they were capped for for three years.
The former rugby league and Aussie rules star is joined by Malaki Fekitoa and Charles Piutau in the starting line-up, who both formerly played for New Zealand, but have been allowed to play for their new nations under the same rules.
Though Folau’s international exile had a clearly negative effect on Australian rugby in the run up to the 2019 World Cup, a narrow majority of 53-47 polled by news.com.au supported the ban.
In the same poll, a much larger majority of 79-21 supported gay rights, but in Tonga, where gay rights are only supported by a minority and homosexual acts can lead people to be jailed for up to ten years, his return is unlikely to be divisive.
Although the law is rarely enforced, Tonga has not signed or expressed support for the 2011 “joint statement on ending acts of violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity” in the United Nations, though a member of the Tongan royal family did once speak out against previous comments made by Folau in 2018.
The game is the first of for both Tonga and Fiji of the Pacific Nations Cup, the Pacific Island tournament that returns for the first time since 2020, and sees the inclusion of Australia ‘A’ – who play Samoa on Saturday – as the fourth team involved.
For Tonga, it serves as a prelude for the Asia/Oceania play-off to be played on the 23rd July, which will see The Sea Eagles take on either Hong Kong or South Korea for a place in the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Fiji have named a team mixing youth and experience for the visit of Tonga, with four debutants in the starting team and one on the bench.
Head coach Vern Cotter is expecting a tough start to the game, but is also hopeful the quality and wise heads on the bench will guide his team to victory in the tournament opener.
“Traditionally like all other games against Tonga, this match will also be very physical for the initial 20 to 30 minutes,” he said “Therefore we need to be ready for that confrontation, the aggressive nature of their rugby plus we need to be smart and create opportunities, be accurate, calm and composed.
“We play at home and we want to play as a team and for each other and put in a good performance.
“[The subs] will bring experience when bodies are a little bit tired and will be able to do extra work-ons at the final stage of the game.”
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