Fa'asavalu: I belong to Britain

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The 27-year-old forward was born in Samoa and played for the islanders in the 2003 rugby union World Cup before switching codes with St Helens, and qualifies for Great Britain through the residency rules.

Fa'asavalu will make his debut in Saturday's first Test against New Zealand at Huddersfield, hoping to push for a place in England's plans for next year's World Cup, and said: "My son was born here, I got married over here, my whole family lifestyle is over here and my rugby league career started over here so I feel I have the right to represent this nation."

He added: "I'm so happy to represent Great Britain."

Fa'asavalu compares his situation to that of Pietersen, who developed his cricket career in England, where he has made his home.

"There's also Mike Catt, who's a South African, and even Willie Talau who was actually born in the islands but moved to New Zealand when he was eight and he represented New Zealand," he told Fusion TV.

"Lote Tuqiri was born in Fiji but he has represented Australia and I don't see any difference."

Saturday's Test match will mark the 100th competitive appearance in rugby league for the raw-boned Fa'asavalu. Of his 99 matches for St Helens, all but five have been from the bench and Great Britain coach Tony Smith has handed him a familiar role for his adopted country.

"He's been one of the biggest impact players off the bench in the last couple of years," said Smith.

"He's certainly been devastating for the last year or so in that role. I think he's made that position fairly unique, along with James Roby. Coming off the bench, they make some impact."