SANTA CLARA -- The Hayne Plane is circling back to the South Pacific.
Jarryd Hayne, the 49ers' running back who became an international sensation last preseason, has decided to leave the team in order to pursue a spot on Fiji's Rugby Seven squad for the upcoming Olympics. While Hayne is Australian and became a household name in that country's Rugby League, his father is Fijian and he has played on Fijian national teams in the past.
“I simply could not pass that chance up," Hayne said in a statement released by the 49ers. “The Olympics has been something I have admired since I was a little boy, and it is an opportunity I feel very similar to me joining the NFL.