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The Australian Points out what we already knew; Giteau is close to signing in france

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RugbyFuture

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...rench-rugby-club/story-e6frg7o6-1225991342690

Start of a Wallaby exodus: Matt Giteau ready to sign with French rugby club

* EXCLUSIVE: Wayne Smith
* From: The Australian
* January 20, 2011 12:00AM


MERCURIAL Brumbies and Wallabies playmaker Matt Giteau is poised within days to sign with a French club although he will not make the move until after the World Cup in October.

It is understood the race for Giteau's signature has come down to Toulon and Bayonne although French powerhouse Toulouse has the resources to come in over the top at the last moment.

Although he is only 28, Giteau is entering his 10th season of international rugby and with 91 Tests to his credit, is Australia's most-capped current back and the sixth-most experienced Wallaby in history.

Yet if he is to reach his century, he will need to be selected for all four Tests in this year's abbreviated Tri-Nations and then play in virtually every match of a successful World Cup campaign.

Certainly there are no guarantees of that.

There was a time Giteau was not merely an automatic Wallabies selection, but virtually the first player chosen.

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No longer. He has struggled to win over coach Robbie Deans, who in recent times appears to have come to the conclusion Giteau has lost his mojo.

Former leading Australian swim coach Bill Sweetenham once theorised that if a swimmer made the Australian team two years ahead of schedule, it was almost certain he or she would quit international competition two years early as well and the same seems to hold true with Giteau.

He had only just turned 20 and not played a single game of Super rugby when Eddie Jones thrust him into the Twickenham Test in 2002 and there is now scarcely a major rugby ground in the world he has not graced.

Yet it still seems a waste that such a brilliant player should be slipping through the fingers of Australian rugby at a time when the youth-dominated Wallabies need all the experience they can lay their hands on.

That said, it was always expected that Giteau would accept a lucrative European contract after playing in his third World Cup. Possibly the only challenge that might have persuaded him to stay would have been the Wallabies captaincy and given the state of his relationship with Deans and ARU chief executive John O'Neill, that was never a possibility.

But what should alarm the ARU is the number of middle-generation Wallabies now weighing up post-World Cup stints overseas.

Such players as hooker Stephen Moore, centres Adam Ashley-Cooper and Berrick Barnes and winger Drew Mitchell should have been stepping up into the senior ranks once Nathan Sharpe and possibly Rocky Elsom retired from Test football.

Instead, all are being courted by British and European clubs and the ARU will need to move sharply if it is to head off a mass player exodus in October.

Giteau and his manager Rob Smith were unavailable for comment yesterday, but all the talk in Canberra is that Giteau is gearing up to make his last season for the ACT and the Wallabies one to remember.

He returned early from his Christmas break and has taken a strong leadership role in pre-season training, demanding a high level of precision from himself and his teammates.

Indeed, so impressive has he been during the build-up to this season that coach Andy Friend has named him in a scaled-down leadership group of three, alongside Elsom and Brumbies captain Stephen Hoiles.

Should Hoiles miss the season-opener against the Chiefs on February 19, Giteau will fill in for him as skipper.

A key to his renewed enthusiasm has been the appointment of his long-time mentor Stephen Larkham as the Brumbies attack coach.

Although Larkham was forced to return to Japan temporarily to see out the remainder of his

playing contract with Ricoh Black Rams and has only just started work with the Brumbies backs, ACT insiders already are adamant that the former Wallabies five-eighth will become that rarest of rugby beasts - a champion player who becomes a champion coach.

Giteau in particular is revelling in the clear direction Larkham is providing and early indications are that he has found his misplaced mojo.
 

liquor box

Greg Davis (50)
I hope the ARU reccomends that players make their decisions on their future before the end of Super Rugby and then not pick any of them for the World Cup or any Tests. Thanks to Gits for the work he has put in to the Wallabies, but good ridance, we will replace you and only get better.
 

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Staff member
I think that's a silly idea liquor box though I must admit that I've had my fair share of them over the years. Giteau may not be the player he once was but after an injury or two to others he will be looking a whole lot more valuable.

Besides, players contracts with the ARU go to the EOYT or RWC though sometimes they are given dispensation to terminate it earlier.
 
T

TOCC

Guest
Its my opinion that contract negotiations shouldn't play any part(whatsoever) in selection for the Wallabies... If a player is signed to the ARU at the time of a Wallabies match, then he is elegible, regardless of whether he has signed a contract to play in another contract in the following year.. Having contractual issues play a part in Wallaby selection sets a dangerous precedence which can work both ways.

And yes im aware of the rumors that wallaby selection was caveat in certain former NRL players contracts, however there has never been any tangible evidence of this released.
 

Brumby Jack

Steve Williams (59)
Staff member
There have been rumors that some players who are off contract after 2011 may take up offers overseas and then come back to Australia before the 2015 World Cup.
 

fatprop

George Gregan (70)
Staff member
There have been rumors that some players who are off contract after 2011 may take up offers overseas and then come back to Australia before the 2015 World Cup.

Sounds good to me, the kids get game time and development and the oldies get deeper and different experience.
 

Bullrush

John Hipwell (52)
Sounds good to me, the kids get game time and development and the oldies get deeper and different experience.

From a NZ perspective, I'm yet to see one player who went overseas and came back better, or maybe even as good as when he left.

Exception - Leon MacDonald.
 

liquor box

Greg Davis (50)
I think that's a silly idea liquor box though I must admit that I've had my fair share of them over the years. Giteau may not be the player he once was but after an injury or two to others he will be looking a whole lot more valuable.

Besides, players contracts with the ARU go to the EOYT or RWC though sometimes they are given dispensation to terminate it earlier.

I think while ever you have to play S14/15 to qualify for a Wallaby jersey then you should have to be contracted to a team. Once the S15 season is over he wont be contracted to a S15 club so I dont think he should be able to be picked......BUT and it is a huge but

I would support picking a Wallabies squad from any Australian playing anywhere, so if the rules allowed you to play in France and come back for Wallaby duties then I think this would only enhance our teams skill level and I would support this change. But while the rules are as they stand at the moment then I dont think he should be selected on principle.

Some kid who is dedicated to the Wallabies will miss out to someone who is leaving and that does not sit right with me.



and LG, I have silly and stupid ideas on a daily basis lol
 

stoff

Bill McLean (32)
I think while ever you have to play S14/15 to qualify for a Wallaby jersey then you should have to be contracted to a team. Once the S15 season is over he wont be contracted to a S15 club...

I thought Super Rugby contracts ran until around December/January and were on a yearly basis. Can anyone confirm?
 
T

TOCC

Guest
Well actually you are both kind of correct, a players contract run from the 1 January to 31 December annually..

However in regards to pre-season training, this plays a part if a previously non-contracted players signs with a province, then his contract length for the first season will actually be 15months(Example: Sep10-Dec11), but every season after the initial season runs from 1st January to 31st December.

If a player wishes to terminate in September, then they have to pay back the remaining 3 months pro-rata..
 

Reddy!

Bob Davidson (42)
Sounds good to me, the kids get game time and development and the oldies get deeper and different experience.

I don't see how this sounds good at all? Australia ideally wants all of its professionals playing rugby in Australia, developing depth in Australia, and being eligible for Wallaby selection by playing in Australia. This could only be a good thing if the Wallaby selection laws allowed for overseas Aussie to play for Australia.
 

Slim 293

Stirling Mortlock (74)
I think while ever you have to play S14/15 to qualify for a Wallaby jersey then you should have to be contracted to a team. Once the S15 season is over he wont be contracted to a S15 club so I dont think he should be able to be picked......BUT and it is a huge but

I would support picking a Wallabies squad from any Australian playing anywhere, so if the rules allowed you to play in France and come back for Wallaby duties then I think this would only enhance our teams skill level and I would support this change. But while the rules are as they stand at the moment then I dont think he should be selected on principle.

Some kid who is dedicated to the Wallabies will miss out to someone who is leaving and that does not sit right with me.



and LG, I have silly and stupid ideas on a daily basis lol


This is a particularly stupid idea...

Along with Giteau most of the current Wallaby squad would be ineligible because they're either heading overseas or waiting until later in the year to decide...
 
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