Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'Best in the world': Folau Fakatava confirms desire to play for All Blacks

(Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Highlanders halfback Folau Fakatava has outlined his ambition to play for the All Blacks after recovering from the ruptured ACL he suffered last year.

ADVERTISEMENT

Fakatava has frequently been linked with All Blacks selection as one of New Zealand’s most promising young prospects, but is yet to make his test debut after sustaining his serious knee injury in last year’s win over the Crusaders in Christchurch.

Speaking to media ahead of this week’s rematch at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on Friday, the Tongan-born 22-year-old confirmed his desire to play for the All Blacks should the opportunity arise down the line.

Video Spacer

Picking the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific champions | Aotearoa Rugby Pod

Video Spacer

Picking the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific champions | Aotearoa Rugby Pod

“Yeah, obviously All Blacks is the best in the world for me, so it’d be good to have a crack at it,” Fakatava said before suggesting that he may choose to instead play for Tonga should an All Blacks call-up elude him.

“Just keep doing what I do, learn from the best, and hopefully, when the opportunities come, I’ll take it. If not, then I might have to play for Tonga.”

Questions remain over Fakatava’s eligibility status for New Zealand after World Rugby altered its laws so that players must reside in their adopted nation for five continuous years rather than three.

Fakatava moved from Tonga to New Zealand as a schoolboy in 2016, but World Rugby’s new laws means that the five-year residency period only begins once a player turns 18.

ADVERTISEMENT

As such, Fakatava’s residency period only began in December 2017, meaning he won’t be eligible for the All Blacks until December this year.

New Zealand Rugby could, however, launch an appeal to World Rugby to make Fakatava available for the All Blacks before this December on the basis that he has now lived in New Zealand for six years.

When asked on the matter, Fakatava said he has no interest in the off-field proceedings surrounding his international eligibility as he instead focusing on his on-field performances with the Highlanders.

“I’ve been talking with my agent and I got a message from other people. For me, I don’t really care much. I just focus on right now and the team, the performance, so I don’t really worry about what’s going to happen with my eligibility,” he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

“If it happens, it happens. I’ve just got to nail every week and put a performance out there.”

Related

Should he become remain unavailable for the All Blacks, Tonga may look to secure Fakatava’s services as part of their global raid of players following World Rugby’s overhauled eligibility laws that enables test-capped players to switch countries.

Since that change of ruling, Israel Folau, Charles Piutau, Malakai Fekitoa, Sekope Kepu, Adam Coleman, Vaea Fifita, George Moala, Augustine Pulu and Atu Moli are, or will soon become, eligible for Tonga this year after completing three-year stand downs from test rugby.

With such star power in the ‘Ikale Tahi’s ranks, Fakatava could be persuaded to represent his homeland while still being eligible to play for the All Blacks provided he too stands down from international rugby for three years.

Before all of that, though, Fakatava is intent on getting back to his best for the Highlanders after a successful return to action from his knee injury during last week’s season-opening defeat to the Chiefs in Queenstown.

“Yeah, obviously I trusted my rehab, all the help that I had throughout my rehab. By the time I was out on that field, I was pretty confident, nail my role and preparation throughout the week. Knee’s feeling good.”

ADVERTISEMENT
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

1 Comment
i
isaac 1213 days ago

Israel Folau, Charles Piutau, Malakai Fekitoa, Sekope Kepu, Adam Coleman, Vaea Fifita, George Moala, Augustine Pulu and Atu Moli...fakatava could be the missing link for Tonga's entry into the expanded Rugby Championship (leapfrogging Fiji)..watch this space come july..

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

f
fl 34 minutes ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

“Yes I wrote that, because you had Leinster as the best team in the world. What was that based on - winning the URC this season?”

It was based on Leinster’s performances over the course of this season, and on their trophy. If Bordeaux beat Toulouse then I’ll change my mind and move them to first. But as it is I expect Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Leinster to all finish with one trophy each, and with Leinster having produced the best week-on-week performances of the three.


“One of those teams won the league in each of those years so yes they were worse. If I was a fan of either of those four teams I would rather have been a fan of a team that won a trophy than didn’t.”

That’s true - I would too. With regard to Stormers I think their trophy was very much enabled by the fact that they weren’t playing in europe, so were able to rest their players much more than the non-SA teams were so I’m not sure whether I would or wouldn’t consider them to have had a better season than Leinster in 2022, but clearly Munster and Glasgow (respectively) had better seasons than Leinster in 2023 and 2024. But if I was a fan of one of those 3 teams I would rather be a fan of a team that won 66 URC+CC matches over the course of 3 seasons (Leinster) than a team that won 46 (Munster) or 42 (Glasgow). If you think trophies are literally the only thing that matters, do you think Blackburn Rovers are a more successful Premier League team than Tottenham Hotspur are?


“You contradict yourself alot. Trophies matter in one post and in the same post coming second consistently makes you better.”

Its going to get really frustrating if you’re not willing to read what I write. I said: “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” How does that contradict my assessment that Leinster were better than Stormers?


“I doubt Leinster would say they have been the better team in any of the seasons you keep going on about.”

Teams generally downplay talk of them being the best, so that wouldn’t surprise me. But crucially I don’t think Leinster were the best team in 2022, or in 2023, or in 2024, so I’m not sure what you think you’re responding to.


“Lets make it clear though - you are the one who went on and on about previous seasons with your deep dive into la Rochelle and Stormers etc.”

Yeah - I did that because you brought up Leinster’s trophyless record from 2022-2024, so I thought that was worth responding to. If you’d like though I can stop responding to the things you say?

22 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Where are they now? The Lomu-led All Blacks team that destroyed England Where are they now? Lomu's All Blacks team that destroyed England
Search