{"id":533010,"date":"2026-03-11T09:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/533010\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T09:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:53:09","slug":"kalyn-ponga-given-green-light-to-represent-new-zealand-kiwis-rugby-league-world-cup-international-eligibility-news-videos-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/533010\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalyn Ponga given green light to represent New Zealand Kiwis, rugby league World Cup, international eligibility, news, videos, highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kalyn Ponga has been given the green light to represent New Zealand.<\/p>\n

According to Code Sports<\/a>, an International Rugby League board meeting made the final call on Ponga\u2019s representative status on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

The big decision opens the door for the Knights superstar to represent the Kiwis at the World Cup at the season\u2019s end, becoming the first player to switch allegiance under the new eligibility rulings.<\/p>\n

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Therefore, Ponga also has the chance to play for Queensland and New Zealand inside the same calendar year.<\/p>\n

The gun fullback needed permission to switch allegiance due to the international eligibility rules that state players cannot switch between tier-one nations, without approval.<\/p>\n

Ponga played a single game for Australia at the World 9s in 2019, but AJ Brimson\u2019s move to represent England set a precedent after he was approved to make his own switch.<\/p>\n

The Newcastle star also reportedly wrote to the IRL board in his bid to represent the Kiwis.<\/p>\n

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\u201cKalyn Ponga has been given the green light to represent the Kiwis… he will play for Queensland play for the Kiwis in one year,\u201d The Daily Telegraph\u2019s Michael Carayannis said on NRL360 on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sets up a blockbuster World Cup opener because Australia take on New Zealand to kickstart the tournament. But Kalyn Ponga, officially a Kiwi.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Australian\u2019s Brent Read revealed that the Ponga family have long harboured a desire for the star No.1 to play for New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been chasing him for years, they have been very keen to get him in the system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd I am happy for him, this is what he wanted to do. This is why he didn\u2019t play for Australia a year or two ago, because he wanted to play for New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you know that family, last year his sister went back to New Zealand so she can connect with her Maori heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is deep roots between that family and New Zealand and the Maori culture, and Kalyn had decided he wants to represent his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

NRL360 host Braith Anasta added: \u201cGood on him, he can play for whoever he wants to play for\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kalyn Ponga has been given the green light to represent New Zealand. According to Code Sports, an International…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-533010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}