Featherstone Rovers' bid for PNG-born wing sensation falls foul of '˜RFL red tape'

The club say they were notified of the Papua New Guinea-born winger’s availability last week and had agreed a deal with the 24-year-old, pending governing body approval.

However, talks have broken down after the RFL claimed Minga would not qualify for governing body endorsement.

He scored 53 tries in just 45 appearances for Toulouse over the last two seasons, as a Championship and League 1 player, but the RFL say Minga did not meet the initial requirements which were in place at the time when he signed for them.

Furthermore, Minga needed to have appeared in 75 per cent of competitive matches for the period of his previous contract.

Rovers say the outside back, who was named in France’s initial World Cup squad, has played in 73.7 per cent of Toulouse’s competitive fixtures since 2016.

Featherstone general manager Davide Longo said: “We are extremely disappointed at the RFL’s decision not to grant Kuni a GBE. Kuni is a player who’s been on our radar for some time. We believe Kuni would have been a revelation both for Featherstone and the Championship as a whole.

“But our efforts to bring another high-profile player, who we believe has the potential to become world class, have been thwarted.”