Joseph Sua’ali’i starts against England and can be the new Israel Folau – or flop like Sam Burgess

Asked to list what makes Australian wunderkind Joseph Sua’ali’i special, Anthony Seibold, the former England defence coach, eventually runs out of superlatives. “Mate, he’s just a freak.”

Sua’ali’i will start his first rugby union match for the Wallabies against England at the Allianz Stadium, at 13. He is the highest-profile cross-codes convert since Sam Burgess.

Like Burgess, Sua’ali’i has arrived in time for a home World Cup. There is also a Lions series next year. For all the doom and gloom around the Wallabies in recent years, the capture of the 21-year-old at considerable expense from the Sydney Roosters in the NRL is the beacon of light that many Australian supporters are clinging on to. All without playing a single game of union as a professional.

The comparison with Burgess is far from exact. Sua’ali’i at least has a grounding in rugby union at schoolboy level, and even though there is a debate whether he is better suited at outside centre – where he starts against England – wing or full-back he is unlikely to be caught in a messy tug of war between club and country. But in terms of hype and expectation, the capture of Sua’ali’i might even surpass Burgess’s arrival at Bath from the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2014.

Certainly it is hard to recall another instance of a convert being thrust straight into the white-hot furnace of international rugby. Israel Folau, the player to whom Sua’ali’i is most frequently compared, had a season of Super Rugby before starring in the 2013 Lions series and Jason Robinson at least had a few run outs for Sale Sharks before he came off the bench against Italy in the 2001 Six Nations.

Joe Schmidt will confirm his side to face England on Thursday but the very fact a usually risk-averse coach is considering fast-tracking Sua’ali’i in such a manner speaks volumes. But for Seibold, who was coach at Rabbitohs when Sua’ali’i was on their books as a teenager, that is no surprise.

“I watched him quite a bit as a kid and he was just breaking all the rules,” Seibold, now head coach at the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, said. “He was playing in first XV teams when most players were 18, when he was 14. In the NRL you have to be 18 years of age to play but he was so good that they made an exception for him so he was playing senior footy when he was 17. It is unusual that he could end up making his debut [on Saturday] but I am telling you he is up to it.

“He’s the complete athlete. He’s got the height, the size, an incredible step, really good in contact and all the skills. Mate, he’s just a freak. I have not seen him kick a lot in league, but he is a very good goal-kicker. He has got all the weapons and that’s why Rugby Australia spent so much money to bring him over.”

That money is reputed to be $5.4 million (£2.75 million) which is no small change at a time when Rugby Australia is struggling. The deal was engineered by former chairman Hamish McLennan at the bequest of Eddie Jones last year, partly motivated by a desire to put union on the back pages. Whatever else they achieved together, they certainly managed that with considerable gnashing of teeth in league circles over Sua’ali’i’s defection.

“Go now. Don’t let the door hit you on the arse on the way out. Go. Go now,” Phil Gould, a former coach and commentator, said with no trace of bitterness.

‘He could be an elite full-back, winger or 13’

For all the fanfare and brickbats with which Sua’ali’i has arrived on Wallabies’ northern hemisphere tour, he has instantly impressed his new team-mates and coaching staff with his sense of humility and eagerness to learn. “In terms of his application, his prep, I know his very first day, when he was watching training, he was talking to himself, through the calls, when he saw things, so I can’t be more impressed with how he’s applied himself so far,” said Geoff Parling, the former England second row who is Australia’s line-out coach.

“He’s a bit different in that you get some guys that are fresh into this sort of environment and they’re not used to the big games out of the big occasion. Well, he is used to some big games and big occasions. I honestly couldn’t be more impressed with how he’s been so far. Certainly as a professional, he’s been really good.”

The only real debate seems to be where Sua’ali’i is best deployed. His first start is at outside centre. Watching from afar, Seibold – who was England’s defence coach from 2021 to 2022 – just hopes that Sua’ali’i is not burdened with the task of being Australia’s saviour as Burgess was 10 years ago.

“He could be an elite full-back, winger or 13,” Seibold said. “I think eventually he can be an outstanding 15. If you think of Israel Folau, he made his debut on the wing and ended up being a world-class 15. I think he can be the best 15 in world rugby. Initially he will start on the wing. He is an exceptional athlete.

“There is so much pressure on him and so much publicity in Australia I just hope everyone gives him a chance to get accustomed to the environment where there has not been a lot of success.”