Ben Volavola opens up about Reds move and star coach’s ‘aura’

Fiji international Ben Volavola has opened up about his decision to sign with the Queensland Reds for the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season, while highlighting the “aura” head coach Les Kiss has around the team.

Volavola was unveiled by the Reds as a new signing earlier this month, bolstering the team’s already impressive depth at fly-half even more, after code-hopper Carter Gordon put pen to paper with the Queensland Rugby Union.

Wallabies playmaker Tom Lynagh and Australia A representative Harry McLaughlin-Phillips are other options for Kiss next season. Volavola returns to Super Rugby after a stint with Leicester Tigers in England, covering fly-half, fullback and centre.

The 38-Test Flying Fijian went to the 2015 and 2019 Men’s Rugby World Cups, and remains eligible for the team today – for now. If Volavola doesn’t represent Fiji before August 2026, the 34-year-old will become eligible for Wallabies selection.

Having played more than 200 games of professional rugby, Volavola joins a talented Reds squad that also includes Wallabies flanker Fraser McReight, former All Black Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen, and World Rugby Dream Team No. 8 Harry Wilson.

“I tried to keep up to date with highlights over in Europe and just watching the Super Rugby competition that way,” Volavola said this week at Ballymore.

“The Reds have always been up the top in regards to the Australian teams… and they’ve also given the New Zealand teams a handful of problems as well.

“The Reds play an exciting attacking game, who try to implement and very smart kicking game within their attacking game,” he added later.

“We play outside the box which is very exciting and they have an attack-first mindset which is very exciting for me and is a style I love playing.

“We have this time during the preseason to be able to get our bodies into shape to play that style of game.

“When I first heard that the Reds was an actual reality, the aspect of playing this style was very exciting.”

The Reds finished the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific regular season in fifth place, before bowing out of the title race with a 32-12 Qualifying Final defeat to the Crusaders at Christchurch’s Apollo Projects Stadium.

That was the fourth consecutive season where the Reds have bowed out in the quarters, including a particularly promising campaign in 2024. They were beaten by eventual finalists the Chiefs 43-21 on June 7.

Kiss will enjoy another season with the Reds before succeeding Joe Schmidt as the head coach of the Wallabies. This changeover will occur after the July international window, which is the start of the all-new Nations Championship.

“Just from his aura, he’s very inviting, a very easy man to get along with,” Volavola explained.

“That enables us to express ourselves in the way we can and desire, and that only complements the entire squad.”

Volavola returns to Super Rugby with a fourth club, having debuted for the NSW Waratahs in 2023. The pivot went on to play seven matches for the Crusaders and made 11 appearances for the Melbourne Rebels.

“I think the experience of playing, back then it was a broader Super Rugby competition where we had the South African teams as well as one Japanese team. At one time, the Argentinians were part of the tournament,” he added.

“The game has grown and changed a little bit thanks to the law changes and so forth. No season’s the same so there will be differences and there will be times where I’ll need to learn and adapt to certain styles in regard to our opposition.

“In regards to the whole dynamic of the Super Rugby competition, I should be quite used to the travel to New Zealand, now to Fiji, and also here in [Australia].”