Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reuters
Reuters
World

Rugby-Folau to join Japanese side NTT next season

FILE PHOTO: Rugby League - Super League - Hull FC v Catalans Dragons - KCOM Stadium, Hull, Britain - March 1, 2020 Catalans Dragons' Israel Folau Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough/File Photo

Former Wallabies fullback Israel Folau will return to rugby union next season after agreeing to join Top League side NTT Communications, the Japanese team said on Monday.

Dual code international Folau resumed his career in Australia last week after he was registered to play for amateur rugby league club Southport Tigers.

The 32-year-old will join up his former coach at the New South Wales Waratahs Rob Penney, who was named NTT's director of rugby.

Folau played rugby league for Australia before switching to Australian Rules in 2011, jumping codes once again to rugby union in 2013.

A fundamentalist Christian, Folau had his Wallabies and Super Rugby deals terminated in 2019 after posting a meme that said hell awaited "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers" and others.

Flyhalf Otere Black, who left the Auckland Blues, has also joined NTT, the team said.

(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengalurul; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.