Three years ago Tim Horan declared Reesjan Pasitoa a “future star” and called for the talented inside back to be included in the Wallabies. Now, the Force inside back is set to head to New Zealand to try and reignite his flagging career.

The Roar can reveal that Pasitoa will head across the ditch and play in this year’s National Provincial Championship. He leaves Australian shores without a Super Rugby contract to return to.

It comes after four frustrating years since moving to the Western Force, which culminated in missing selection against the British and Irish Lions for Saturday’s tour opener in Perth on Saturday night.

Instead, Force coach Simon Cron opted for mid-season New Zealand recruit Alex Harford to wear the No.10 jersey. Max Burey, the utility back who has been in and out of the side over the past couple of years, will come off the bench while Wallaby Ben Donaldson will line-up at fullback following Kurtley Beale’s hamstring injury.

Hamish Stewart was once again preferred at inside centre, while the two-Test Wallaby will partner one-Test All Black Matt Proctor, whose two years in Australia, including first – and likely only – season at the Force, has been cruelled by injuries. Fringe Wallaby, Bayley Kuenzle, who will require a clean out on his knee, will come off the bench.

Reesjan Pasitoa will head across the ditch to try and reignite his career. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

The decision to turn to the New Zealand duo speaks of a coach sensing the need to show something against the Lions.

While Proctor’s ability has long been known, Kuenzle was knocking on the door of the Wallabies in 2024 and garnered some discussion regarding selection this year after a mid-season return from an ACL injury. The decision to have him come off the bench has raised eyebrows.

But Pasitoa’s slide into obscurity is a sorry story, having had two injury-plagued years before falling out of favour in 2025.

After leading the Australian Schoolboys side to a drought-breaking win over New Zealand Schools in 2019, a side that featured Wallabies star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, many anticipated a bright future for the Nudgee product.

Pasitoa then became the second youngest Brumby in the Super Rugby franchise’s history when Dan McKellar, who thrust 20-year-old Noah Lolesio into the No.10 jersey, selected the burgeoning talent on the bench.

However, the return of the Force in Super Rugby saw Pasitoa move to the franchise and while initially it paid dividends, back-to-back major injuries saw the rising talent slide down the power rankings.

Equally adept at flyhalf and inside centre, Pasitoa, who has bulked up over the past 24 months, was used sparingly in 2025. When he did have the chance, it tended to come out of position at outside centre despite regularly being the opposed playmaker at training.

Reesjan Pasitoa was a schoolboy sensation and a “point of difference” player. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

It’s believed Cron spoke with Pasitoa about his future late in the season and encouraged him to rediscover his engine. It’s part of the reason why Cron granted Pasitoa an early release to play in the NPC in the coming months.

Nor have any other Australian Super Rugby sides, including the Waratahs, jumped at him despite Pasitoa appearing to have a point of difference to most of the inside backs in the country at present.

Former tryscoring machine turned coach Peter Hewat, who selected Pasitoa for the Australian Schoolboys and helped bring him to the Brumbies, said he hoped the New Zealand-bound playmaker could find his feet because he had a “point of difference”.

“I really enjoyed working with him,” Hewat told The Roar.

“Obviously I haven’t worked with him since 2020 at the Brumbies, but Dan and I did a lot of research when we were looking to sign him at the Brumbies. He’d dominated schoolboy rugby up in Queensland and we felt he had a real point of difference because he could play at the line or through the line and is a big 10 and 12.

“He’s got a real physical presence, can carry and has footwork and can offload and that was a real point of difference. He had a good passing game and a good long-passing game, so a lot of the things that we saw were very rare for a young 10/12.

“He’s obviously had a couple of bad years through injury, so he’s lost some development time, which is important for young playmakers. That’s a time when they make errors and learn from them.

“I hope he gets a string of games and seasons together, where he can get that week-to-week grind of driving a team around because there’s a point of difference there with his size from other 10/12s in the country.

“I just hope he can get back to full fitness and fulfill the talent he’s got because he’s a good kid and a good young player.”