Kurtley Beale, an Australian international, played his first match in over 14 months on Saturday in Brisbane, returning to the pitch in the Australian Club Championship a month after a Sydney court declared him not guilty of rape.
Beale was suspended from all rugby following his arrest in December 2022, and the case cost him the opportunity to play in his fourth World Cup for the Wallabies in France last year.
The 35-year-old’s contract with the New South Wales Waratahs lapsed during his suspension, and he was in the green shirt of Randwick on Saturday, facing Brothers in the annual clash between Sydney and Brisbane club champions.
Beale took the flight up to Queensland on Friday despite the death of his brother William this week.
Playing at flyhalf opposite Queensland Reds pivot Lawson Creighton, Beale looked fit and his quality was clear in the hour he played even if Randwick went down 25-18 at Crosby Park.
Beale, a teenage prodigy marked out as a future Wallabies flyhalf from a young age, has won 95 caps for Australia in various positions since his debut in 2009.
He said in an interview last week that he still wanted to play for his country and harboured an ambition to become the first indigenous Australian to win 100 Wallabies caps.
