The lock was asked get off the plane which was overloaded and carrying too much weight.  

The 113-kilo North Queensland star stayed behind with teammate Siliva Havili who were minded by team official John Hopoate before flying out on Thursday.

Taumalolo controversially turned his back on New Zealand to play for Tonga at the World Cup.

“We all got on the plane ... then they decided that there was too much weight on the plane,” Tonga coach Kristian Woolf told TVNZ.

“They had to offload a couple of guys and unfortunately, one of those was Jason.

“It was a funny one.”