Former All Blacks wing Charles Piutau wants to play for Tonga at next year's Rugby World Cup

Sport360 staff 18:47 20/07/2018
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  • Charles Piutau wants to play for Tonga at RWC 2019

    Charles Piutau fears for his chances of representing Tonga at the Rugby World Cup in 2019.

    Former New Zealand wing Piutau hopes a change to eligibility rules will allow him to represent the country of his parents’ birth, Tonga, at next year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan.

    The 26-year-old won 16 New Zealand caps, but relinquished his chance to secure further All Blacks selection when heading overseas to Wasps in 2015.

    Now Piutau believes he has spent long enough in the Test wilderness to qualify to step down to represent Tier Two nation Tonga – and he has the backing of Pacific Rugby Players’ Welfare (PRPW).

    “I’d love nothing more than to be able to represent Tonga at the next World Cup,” Piutau told Press Association Sport.

    “I’ve expressed my desire to do that previously, but so far there has been no word about whether that would be possible.

    “I’m holding out hope that it can still happen, but obviously the longer that goes on without any suggestion of the rulings changing, then the less likely that becomes.”

    Piutau turned out for Tonga at under-20s level before representing New Zealand, while his brother Siale has 34 caps for Tonga.

    Former Ulster wing Piutau will add an extra layer of threat to Bristol’s star-studded return to the Premiership this coming season.

    But he is also part of a group of Pacific Islanders wanting to switch Test allegiance in time for the next Rugby World Cup.

    Chief executive Dan Leo confirmed PRPW is pushing for a change to the eligibility rules, to help boost smaller nations.

    Leo explained that PRPW believes capped Test players should be allowed to return to represent a lower-tier nation of their heritage – but only after a three-year cooling-off period featuring no international action.

    “World Rugby have spent a lot of time fine-tuning their policy over residency qualifications,” Leo said.

    “But we would like to see regulations brought in where players who qualify for more than one nation and have been capped for Tier One teams can then – after a suitable cooling-off period – be allowed to represent another Test team from a lower tier.

    “We’re not looking at top stars of the game in their prime, we’re looking at guys who perhaps have a handful of caps for a Tier One nation, have then moved abroad, and years later want to represent a Tier Two nation through their heritage.

    “So guys like Charles Piutau fall into that category.

    “The impact the availability of big stars like Charles could have for Pacific Island nations would be huge.

    “There’s no policy that allows players in those situations to go back, and we need that established if those nations are really going to be able to progress.

    “We’d like these guys to be available for the coming World Cup. It’s probably touch-and-go now timing-wise, but I’d imagine we could get the ball rolling on that quite quickly.”

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