CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
At 36, veteran Australian rugby star Kurtley Beale has been named captain of the inaugural First Nations and Pasifika XV to face the British and Irish Lions at Docklands Stadium tomorrow night.
First Nations Australians, Samoan, Fijian, Tongan, Māori, and Cook Island cultures are all set to be represented in the team, with 17 players of Melanesian or Polynesia origin and six First Nations stars.
After 95 caps for the Wallabies, this will be the second time Beale has had the opportunity to play against a touring Lions side. As one of only 15 Indigenous Australians to wear the gold jersey, Kurtley Beale will now lead the very first team of this kind in the 7th match of this current Lions tour.
Beale will be joined by the game’s Islander greats, with the likes of Tongan-born prop Taniela Tupou and Fijian-born winger Filipo Daugunu released from the Wallabies squad for the match
The Lions have not yet lost, with a 27-19 win in the first Test over the Wallabies on Saturday – and while the First Nations and Pasifika XV looks like an experimental all-stars side – head coach Toutai Kefu has vowed the First Nations and Pasifika XV will not be there “to make up the numbers”.
Kurtley Beale has also made the point that this will not be the first side he’s played for that is exclusively made up of Indigenous and Islander footballers.
“Might be a world first for the international stage… But it reminds me a lot of Mount Druitt if I’m honest” said the former Western Sydney football prodigy.
“Until about under 15s, every side I played for was a First Nations and Pasifika XV”
