Out of favour All Blacks No 8 Pita Gus Sowakula is heading to France next year after signing a deal with Top 14 side Clermont.

The Chiefs and Taranaki loose forward will join Clermont later next year the club announced on their website. The club are in need of depth in the back row with 34-year-old Fritz Lee’s contract coming to an end.

Sowakula has signed a two-year deal with the option of a third year, joining Clermont after the Super Rugby and NPC seasons which appears to rule him out of the Rugby World Cup.

The 6-foot-4, 110kg Sowakula has earned two caps for the All Blacks, scoring a try on his debut against Ireland at Eden Park in July.

However, he quickly fell out of favour with All Blacks selectors and failed to make the Rugby Championship squad, and didn’t even make the All Blacks XV side for the end of year tour.

His absence prompted confusion from fans and pundits, considering he was one of the best performing No 8s in Super Rugby this year.

“Can someone tell me what Pita Gus has done? He’s done something … I don’t get that,” former All Black John Kirwan said of Sowakula’s disappearance from the All Blacks and All Blacks XV sides in October.

Born in Fiji, Sowakula looked destined for a career in basketball — where he played for Fiji and the Otago Nuggets — before switching codes to rugby in 2017.

A move to France likely kills any chance of Sowakula donning the black jersey again, but rugby’s new eligibility rules would allow him to play for Fiji in three years.