Andrew Fifita has revealed the pact he and Jason Taumalolo made before switching to Tonga for the World Cup.

The pair made waves earlier in the week when they jumped ship from Australia and New Zealand respectively.

“It was lingering in his mind for a while now also, but I told him ‘if you make the commitment, I’ll make the commitment’,” Taumalolo told The Daily Telegraph.

Fifita also admitted that he was “scared” to tell Australian coach Mal Meninga off his plans to defect.

“He was the one bloke I was scared to ring,” Fifita said.

“But I didn’t want to put anyone out or do something wrong. So I made the call and we spoke for a good 10 to 15 minutes.

“We talked about everything, we talked about my entire last year – getting back my (Australian) jersey in the Anzac test and just everything to do with life and football. He was just so supportive.”

The World Cup gets underway in just 21 days with Australia facing England at AAMI Park.