Scott Morrison has swapped out his suit for a Guernsey as he temporarily embraced his new role as a water boy for the Wallabies.
The Prime Minister attended a friendly match with Fiji on Friday in their capital of Suva and seemed delighted as he handed players their uniforms and water bottles on the field.
Mr Morrison is well known as a huge rugby league fan and got his chance to embrace some of his favourite players as Australia destroyed the home-side 51 to 10.
The appearance makes him the first Prime Minister to make an appearance at one of the friendly matches.
Commentators and footy fans were highly amused by the display as they came to terms with the fact the man running across the field with no shoes or socks on was in charge of running a country.
‘The water boy doesn’t come much more prestigious than this,’ the Kangaroos captioned its Instagram post of the moment.
‘The Prime Minister is happy, he is on the park, does he want a pair of boots?’ one comment read.
‘Is he the water boy now?’ another fan added.
‘Well he thinks he is… that’s great, absolutely brilliant,’ he said.
The Prime Minister attended the friendly match with Fiji on Friday in their capital of Suva and seemed delighted as he handed players their uniforms and water during the game
The team seemed to be pleased, with one player even giving Scott Morrison a slap on the back and shaking his hand after he handed out the bottles.
Mal Meninga, the Prime Minister’s XIII Coach, said it was great to interact with Mr Morrison.
‘We’re representing the prime minister’s office by playing these games not only in PNG but in Fiji this year,’ he told the NRL.
‘He’s a normal human being, he just happens to hold the highest position in Australian society… but you know to go out among the crowd and be among the players, we love it and I’m pretty sure he loved it.’
Clint Gutherson has scored a hat-trick and Payne Haas has been at his powerful best in his first senior outing in green and gold, with the Prime Minister’s XIII flogging Fiji 52-10 in their rugby league international in Suva.
Playing against a Fiji residents side, lacking their NRL stars, the Australians dominated on Friday night from the outset as they piled on 11 tries to two.
Commentators and footy fans were highly amused by the display as they came to terms with the fact the man on the field was in charge of running a country
Gutherson scored two first-half tires in the 42-point rout, while Haas finished with a try, ran 141 metres and made eight tackle busts.
After Fiji knocked on in the opening set, they were never in the match, with the PM’s XIII rushing out to a 14-0 lead within 10 minutes before the hosts next had a play-the-ball.
Kyle Feldt did the initial damage for the PM’s XIII when he beat three defenders off the scrum, before Haas went over untouched moments later.
Campbell Graham scored the next, capitalising on another set for the Australians when Fiji fumbled a Mitchell Moses cross-field kick.
Haas was again in the action before halftime, when a powerful run and quick play-the-ball allowed Jake Trbojevic to put Gutherson over with an inside ball.
It comes as the 19-year-old Haas prepares to make his Kangaroos debut later this month, called into the Australian squad after a booming rookie season for Brisbane.
The team seemed to be pleased with one player even giving Scott Morrison a slap on the back and shaking his hand after he handed out the bottles
Gutherson’s second came after some Moses magic, the Parramatta halfback skipping through the line from 30m out and turning the ball back inside for his Eels fullback.
The hat-trick was complete when fellow Eel Reed Mahoney broke down the left edge in the second half, before putting Gutherson over to finish the job.
Bronco David Fifita later claimed the best try of the match, busting through from his own end to score in the corner, before later offloading to put Cody Walker across to take the score past 50.
Garrick, Feldt and Paul Momirovski also claimed second-half tries, as Fiji also scored one either side of the break to put the Suva crowd into raptures.
It came on a big night for Fijian rugby league, after it was confirmed they would have a side in the Ron Massey Cup next year and NSW Cup in 2021.