Former whiz kid Chris Feauai-Sautia departs Reds as a new one arrives

While the Queensland Reds are hailing the arrival of Suliasi Vunivalu, they have quietly said farewell to another former whiz kid.

Chris Feauai-Sautia career at the Reds has been blighted by injury.

While the Queensland Reds are loudly hailing the arrival of a potential matchwinner in Melbourne Storm flyer Suliasi Vunivalu, they have quietly said farewell to a player who once looked like filling that same role for them, former Wallaby Chris Feauai-Sautia.

His omission from the final Reds squad had been widely telegraphed but when Queensland released their player list for the 2021 Super Rugby season it still came as a jolt to realise that the 27-year-old had been let go just as he should have been coming into his rugby prime.

To be fair, any unease among fans would have been shared by Reds coach Brad Thorn and other senior Queensland officials because Feauai-Sautia, who played two Tests for Australia back in 2013, has always been viewed as a game-breaker over the nine years he had spent at Ballymore.

He was signed to a full contract by the then Reds coach Ewen McKenzie while he was still at school at Brisbane State High in 2011, perhaps not surprisingly considering he had just played for the Australian Schoolboys for his third straight year. Indeed, along with former Waratahs and Rebels hooker Hugh Roach, he holds the record as the most capped Australian Schoolboy of all time, his 11 Tests eclipsing earlier wunderkinds Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale.

Yet though Feauai-Sautia went on to play 81 games for the Reds, in recent years he has suffered one injury after another. When fit, he was as deadly as ever, a fact he demonstrated against the Jaguares last season when he crossed for a double in Buenos Aires and again when he conjured a crucial try out of nowhere against the Melbourne Rebels at Brookvale.

But the injuries constantly undermined him and played havoc with his match fitness. The Reds even entertained the idea of signing him to a part-time contract, but in the end it was decided the more honourable course was to release him to explore his options overseas. It is understood French clubs are already showing interest.

Certainly his highlights reel would be a showstopper and though he departs never quite having lived up to expectations, he still leaves oversized shoes for Vunivalu to fill.

Queensland Reds recruit Suliasi Vunivalu. Picture: Tom Mitchell/QRU

As expected, the Reds have also lost the Smith brothers bookends from their pack, props JP and Ruan, and while Jean-Pierre in particular will take some replacing, all indications are that Feao Fotuaika is shaping up as a formidable substitute at loosehead.

It is expected that the Queensland front-row will take a further hit when Test hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa joins Montpellier, but he is contracted with the Reds for the 2021 season and could well be required for the series against France and The Rugby Championship before he is free to head to France – unless, of course, he is granted an early release.

Still, the Reds starting line-up is likely to include no fewer than 11 current Test players, along with Vunivalu, who was drafted into the Wallabies following his try-scoring exploits for the Storm in the NRL grand final.

For years now, Thorn has deflected expectations of the Queensland side because of its youth and inexperience but with players such as captain Liam Wright, fellow backrowers Harry Wilson and Fraser McReight and halfback Tate McDermott now being regarded as senior players, the future has arrived with a thud.

Indeed, it may well be that for the first year since 2016, the Brumbies are not regarded pre-season as the competition favourites within Australia.

Still, writing off the Brumbies is very much a trap for young players, and coach Dan McKellar is cannily keeping his side out of the limelight with a pre-season training camp at Jindabyne.

Winger Tom Wright has returned to Super Rugby with the added lustre of having become a frontline Wallaby and while it did not go entirely to plan in Test football for the likes of Noah Lolesio, Irae Simone and Rob Valetini in 2020, they are still far more accomplished players now than they were a year ago. And there are rugby fans across the country eager for a longer look at centre Len Ikitau, who was drafted into the Wallabies squad by Dave Rennie last year on the strength of three or four brilliant cameos for the ACT side.

Following the cancellation of their pre-season trial against the Waratahs in Bowral on January 30, the Brumbies will now play their only pre-season trial against the Western Force. Indications are that it will be staged in Canberra on February 6 but that is not likely to be confirmed until later this week.

The Force’s four star recruits from Argentina, Pumas Tomas Cubelli, Tomas Lazana, Santiago Medrano and Domingo Miotti, will be unveiled at a press conference in Perth on Tuesday.