Rugby: Wallabies top back Samu Kerevi wants to quit for Fiji

Samu Kerevi...could be lost to test rugby for three years. Photo / Photosport

Outstanding inside back Samu Kerevi wants to quit the Wallabies for Fiji at the next World Cup.

A report in the Fiji Sun said Kerevi, who is about to play in Japan, made the "bombshell revelation" at a luncheon in his homeland.

Kerevi's three-year contract with the Suntory Sungoliath makes him ineligible for the Wallabies, who will only select overseas-based players who have reached a 60-test threshold.

That is being reviewed by Rugby Australia over summer, and a rule change could keep the 33-test Kerevi in Australian colours.

The loss of Kerevi would be a massive blow for the Aussies.

The 26-year-old Kerevi, the Wallabies vice-captain, had a superb season. He was the runner up to fellow Fijian Marika Koroibete as the Wallabies' player of the year, but Kerevi was often their most damaging runner.

The Reds centre was also Australia's Super Rugby player of the year, but RA lost a bidding war with the Japanese club for his services.

"My manager has told me to go to Japan so that I can aim to play for Fiji in the next Rugby World Cup," the Fijian paper reported Kerevi as saying.

"It (is) all in the air for me to focus on Japan.

"I cannot play for the Wallabies because I cannot reach the threshold of 60 caps, which they are trying to lower."

Former All Black Charles Piutau, who wanted to play for Tonga at the World Cup, is among the notable players who have investigated switching nations.

So long as players have the relevant passport, they can switch via a three-year stand down and then playing in an Olympic sevens qualifying tournament. Piutau missed out on the 2019 World Cup because Tonga ran out of qualifying tournaments to play him in.