Former All Blacks midfielder Malakai Fekitoa will play for Irish club Munster at the start of the next northern season.
Fekitoa played 24 tests for the All Blacks between 2014 and 2017 before losing his place in the squad, prompting him to join French club Toulon.
He later signed for English outfit Wasps in 2019. He will now join Munster on a two-year deal once he completes his duties for the Coventry-based club.
Now eligible to represent Tonga, where he was born and raised, Fekitoa was a member of the All Blacks’ squad that defended the Webb Ellis Cup at the World Cup in Britain in 2015.
When Fekitoa was a schoolboy he moved from Tonga on a scholarship to attend Wesley College in Pukekohe.
Eye-catching performances for the Highlanders demanded he picked for the All Blacks, and he made his test debut against England in Auckland in 2014.
Last month Fekitoa, 29, had to endure an anxious wait before learning his mother was safe after the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano.
Although he had made contact with his sisters, Fekitoa had not heard from his mother on the island of Ha’apai where he grew up. However, he finally received the news that she was safe.
“Update from Tonga,” Fekitoa wrote on social media. “I just spoke to my mum on a satellite phone. She’s ok and everyone back home are safe and sound.”
Photo file Caption: Malakai Fekitoa