Wallabies star ‘Honey Badger’ sacrifices World Cup rugby dream to take care of his sick dad with move to cashed-up Japanese league

Nick Cummins will join the Coca Cola West Red Sparks in Japan's Top League which runs from the end of August until the beginning of February

Under ARU rules, players are ineligible to play for the Wallabies if they are playing outside of Australia

The Force are working out ways for the Japanese club to loan the cult hero back to them for next year's Super Rugby season in mid-February

Nicknamed ‘Honey Badger’, the loveable larrikin has four Facebook pages dedicated to his entertaining quotes and a song written in his honour

Wallabies cult hero Nick Cummins has selflessly put aside his dream of playing in next year's Rugby World Cup to provide for his sick family.



Nicknamed the ‘Honey Badger’, the loveable larrikin has been reluctantly granted a release from his ARU and Super Rugby contract to play in Japan under ‘unique and extreme personal circumstances’.



The Japanese league is known for offering massive cash incentives usually taken up by players nearing the end of their careers, but the in-form 26 year old is making the move to support his father Mark Cummins who is battling prostate cancer.

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Nick Cummins will join the Coca Cola West Red Sparks in Japan's Top League which runs from the end of August until the beginning of February The in-form 26 year old (left) is making the move to play in Japan to support his father Mark Cummins (right) who is battling prostate cancer Cummins, (pictured with his extended family) has seven siblings, three brothers and four sisters, two of whom suffer from cystic fibrosis

The 15-Test winger is currently at the height of his career with the Force in 2014 and started in all three Tests in the clean sweep victory over France last month.



But at the end of the Super Rugby season Cummins will join the Coca Cola West Red Sparks on a lucrative deal in Japan's Top League, which runs from the end of August until the beginning of February.



Named The Queensland Father of the Year in 2012, Mark, who became a single dad five years ago, has eight children - two of whom suffer from cystic fibrosis.



Cummins said it was time for him to give back to his family and provide them with some much-needed certainty.



‘My family is currently enduring some extremely difficult times in terms of their health and well being,’ he said in a statement on Friday.

BADGER'S TOP QUOTES

'The boys were on it like seagulls at a tip' 'Sweatin’ like a gypsy with a mortgage, actually' 'My old man woke me up in the morning. He was going off like a bag of cats' 'You’re as tough as woodpecker lips.' 'Yeah mate I bloody was like a rat up a drainpipe in one of them runs there.'

‘It was a difficult decision to make in the context of a Rugby World Cup next year, but the health and well being of my family is paramount,’ he said. ‘I now must put my own interests in the world cup aside.’

Under ARU rules, players are ineligible to play for the Wallabies if they are playing outside of Australia.

The wild-haired, knockabout winger's Test-winning percentage (77 per cent) is up there with the most successful Wallabies of all time.



His success rate increases to 100 per cent when he ‘bags some meat’ as only Cummins would describe it.



The Honey Badger has gained a cult following around his persona with an impressive total of four Facebook pages dedicated to his endless entertaining quotes, and even a song has been written in his honour.

The 'Honey Badger' has gained a cult following around his persona with an impressive total of four Facebook pages dedicated to his endless entertaining quotes and even a song has been written in his honour.

While Cummins will be out of Test action for the foreseeable future, the Force are working out ways for the Japanese club to loan the cult hero back to them - a la George Smith with the Brumbies in 2013 - for next year's Super Rugby season, which will begin in mid-February.



'It's hoped the conditions of Cummins' release will allow him to play with the Force again next year,' a statement from the Force said on Friday.



Cummins' decision to accept the Japanese offer wasn't necessarily a surprise to the Force, but the timing of the unexpected West Red Sparks' announcement certainly was.