{"id":155481,"date":"2025-09-23T13:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T13:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/155481\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T13:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T13:31:12","slug":"mark-nawaqanitawase-to-leave-nrl-ahead-of-2027-rugby-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/155481\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Nawaqanitawase to leave NRL ahead of 2027 Rugby World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Wallabies winger Mark Nawaqanitawase<\/a> is reportedly returning to rugby union ahead of the 2027 Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> in Australia, with the code-hopper informing the Sydney Roosters of his decision to leave the NRL after the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Sydney Morning Herald scribe Michael Chammas<\/a> has revealed that Nawaqanitawase has made this headline-grabbing call, following a sensational season with the Tricolours, with the 25-year-old finishing the regular season as the NRL\u2019s top try-scorer.<\/p>\n

Nawaqaniatwase scored 24 tries during the campaign, which included a hat-trick against the Dolphins and a four-try haul away to the Melbourne Storm. The Rugby League Players Association announced its 2025 Dream Team on Monday, with Nawaqanitawase on one wing.<\/p>\n

\"Video<\/p>\n

Tony Brown explains Willie le Roux\u2019s\u00a0role<\/p>\n

\"VideoTony Brown explains Willie le Roux\u2019s\u00a0role<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been reported that Nawaqanitawase is set to chase his dream of representing Australia<\/a> at the home Rugby World Cup, but the 11-Test Wallaby plans on heading overseas rather than sign with an Australian Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> franchise.<\/p>\n

Rugby Australia\u2019s Director of Performance Peter Horne<\/a> told media after the British & Irish Lions<\/a> Series that \u201cthe Giteau Law\u2019s kind of redundant.\u201d Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is able to pick overseas-based players if desired for the national side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a shock? Is it a surprise,\u201d 2002 Sydney Roosters premiership player Brian Fletcher said on SEN 1170 Drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been mooted that he wanted to go back to rugby, but he should thank the Roosters because hoe much do you think this previous season has added to his contract?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat will happen now is I\u2019d imagine we don\u2019t see him in league after 2027 because it\u2019ll be the World Cup, then French rugby, Japanese rugby, even English rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been rumours about Nawaqanitawase\u2019s future for a while, with rugby league reporter Buzz Rothfield explaining on Triple M earlier this month that \u201crugby\u2019s the danger\u201d during a discussion about whether another NRL club may attempt to sign the Paris Olympian.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a real buzz about rugby union in Australia, with the Wallabies capturing headlines with some impressive performances this season. After a nail-biting win over Fiji<\/a> to start their campaign, the Wallabies suffered a nail-biting loss to the Lions at the MCG.<\/p>\n

Australia bounced back to defeat the Lions in the final Test at Sydney\u2019s Accor Stadium, before backing that up with an incredible comeback win over South Africa<\/a> in Johannesburg. They have since beaten Argentina<\/a> in one of two matches, and face New Zealand<\/a> this weekend.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks<\/a> will host the first of two Bledisloe Cup Tests at Auckland\u2019s Eden Park, before the two sides make the trip west to face off against at Perth\u2019s Optus Stadium on October 4. After four rounds, the Wallabies sit in first-place on The Rugby Championship<\/a> standings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Wallabies winger Mark Nawaqanitawase is reportedly returning to rugby union ahead of the 2027 Men\u2019s Rugby World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-155481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}