Marika Koroibete has played his last match for the Wallabies this year and, conceivably, waved goodbye to Australian rugby forever.

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie dropped a bombshell on Sunday, revealing the 29-year-old world class winger had not joined the squad in Japan ahead of Saturday’s Test and would not join them on their spring tour for family reasons.

“Covid’s thrown a lot of curveballs at all of us, obviously Marika’s been away from home for a long time,” Rennie told reporters on Sunday from Oita, the scene of the Wallabies’ World Cup quarter-final exit in 2019.

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MORE: Wallabies trio in doubt for Spring Tour as club and country issue returns

“Emma’s (Koroibete’s wife) pretty isolated down there (in Melbourne).

“They’ve had a new born baby, they’ve got a couple of young boys, so based on that situation Marika’s chosen not to tour.”

Koroibete, the 2019 John Eales Medallist, earlier this year signed with Panasonic Wild Knights, where he will join former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans in the Japanese Top League.

While Rugby Australia has loosened their national eligibility laws in recent months, it is not a foregone conclusion that Koroibete will play for the Wallabies again.

The governing body remains hesitant on picking players from overseas and given their depth on the wing, it is possible they favour picking forwards and inside backs instead.

RA loosened their stance, in part, because of the difficulties associated with travelling during the pandemic, but it also allowed Rennie the perfect opportunity to see what his foreign-based stars can offer.

With the returns of Quade Cooper and Samu Kerevi, the Wallabies have won four straight matches and instantly looked a better side.

Currently, the Wallabies picked six players playing outside of Australia for the spring tour and while that number could increase during their final three Tests of the year, they will likely halve that number for next year’s home season because they want to continue to push players to return to Super Rugby.

Given Koroibete will be playing his first season in Japan, it is likely RA would give the world class winger some breathing space next season before perhaps targeting a return in time for the 2023 World Cup in France.

Rennie also confirmed uncapped Rebels prop Pone Fa’amausili had injured his calf muscle and would miss the entire tour.

But the Wallabies won’t call-up any players remaining in Australia and will look to bring in players from overseas to fill any holes moving forward.

“We’ll see how we come out of this tour,” Rennie said.

“We’ve made a real commitment to the guys we’ve left behind to go straight on leave and to come back in November to have a decent off season and we’re very focused on maintaining that, which will mean we won’t look back at home to bring someone over.”

That stance could see the likes of Luke Morahan, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Rob Simmons, Jesse Mogg, Jack Dempsey and, if desperately needed, Kurtley Beale brought into the mix.

While Cooper is set to keep the No.10 jersey ahead of James O’Connor for Saturday’s Test, Rennie also confirmed conversations were continuing about his availability, as well as Sean McMahon and Kerevi’s, for their tour of the United Kingdom.

“Technically from a reg nine perspective players have to be released for national duty, so that includes Scotland, England and Wales,” he said.

“But we’re also conscious that we want to build a strong relationship with the clubs, so we’re talking through that at the moment.”

His comments came after foxsports.com.aurevealed the trio were in doubt to feature in the spring tour’s entirety.

Rennie will be without McMahon for the match against the Brave Blossoms after being granted permission to break the Wallabies’ bubble by returning early to Japan, while Kerevi is racing the clock to be fit.

“We’ll put in the best side available,” Rennie said emphatically.

While Tests against Japan might have been a sure-thing in the past, that is not the case now.

Eddie Jones put the building blocks in place for Japan before joining England after the 2015 World Cup, while former Highlanders Super Rugby-winning duo Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown took them to a World Cup quarter-final.

“Always brutal, always high pace, so I expect the same,” Rennie reflected on his former New Zealand coaching counterparts.

“They’ve got Scott Hansen in the mix from a defence point of view, obviously a smart man who has worked a lot with the Crusaders .

“They’ve got a very good, astute coaching group.

“They fronted pretty well against the Lions (in June), went very close to beating Ireland, had a fantastic World Cup, they’ve got a lot of experience in the group now and a number of foreigners who have done their time here and are now eligible to play for Japan.

“They’ve got a really good mix and a lot of confidence in their game.”