About time........
Rugby Australia reaches deal over Western Force and Wallabies selection
WAYNE SMITH
As far as Rugby Australia is concerned, the “Wallabies eligibility” crisis with Andrew Forrest’s Indo Pacific Rugby Championship is over. Any player who turns out for the Western Force this season or in future can be considered for Australian Test selection.
RA deputy chairman Brett Robinson, the man who is heading the negotiations with Forrest over his proposed tournament which grew out of the Force being culled as a Super Rugby franchise last year, confirmed that, from RA’s perspective, the main stumbling block had been dealt with.
“We are comfortable with any of the footballers playing with the Force being considered for the Wallabies,” Robinson told The Australian yesterday. “Where we have drawn the line in the sand is stipulating that Australians playing for any of his (five) overseas teams will not be considered — unless, of course, they meet the 60-cap threshold.”
That potentially could be a deal breaker with Forrest, who on Wednesday announced that his tournament would be going ahead whether or not RA gave its approval. Yet it would have been a case of RA being wildly inconsistent with itself had it taken any other approach, given that it effectively bans itself from selecting overseas-based Australians who have played fewer than 60 Tests.
“We need to have the Wallaby jersey as an incentive to remain in Australia,” said Robinson. “Having Wallabies stars playing at home is important for the young kids growing up, because heroes need to be visible. Once you give that up, there will be little to stop northern hemisphere countries raiding Australia.”
If, for example, Forrest was able to entice Matt To'omua or Scott Fardy to return home to play for the Force, then they would be well and truly visible on Michael Cheika’s selection radar. But if they chose to go to one of Forrest’s Asia-based teams, then they would not be available for
Australia because they have played only 33 and 39 Tests respectively.
There are now around 180 Australians playing professionally abroad and the flow is ever-increasing. As players are grabbing the opportunity to set themselves up financially, the lure of representing their country is diminishing.
Even the All Blacks jersey is losing its allure, with Charlie Faumuina, Aaron Cruden, Steven Luatua, Brad Shields, Lima Sopoaga, Charlie Ngatai and Seta Tamanivalu all opting to accept lucrative contracts offshore over the past year or so.
A spokesperson for Forrest’s Minderoo group working on the IPRC insisted that Wallabies eligibility remained on the top of their agenda for their next meeting with RA on February 19. “We look forward to a continued dialogue with RA with the goal of securing certainty for any future elite Western Australian players.”
Before Forrest’s organisation launches the IPRC next February, the plan is to ramp up the Force’s strength ahead of the National Rugby Championship by playing a number of high-quality exhibition matches.
RA already is paying out the contracts of Pek Cowan, Heath Tessman and a couple of others ex-Force Super Rugby players who either chose not to head to the eastern states or overseas following the closure of the club, and the plan would be to build the NRC team — and ultimately the IPRC squad — around them.
Similarly, if Forrest’s organisation intends to incorporate the Pacific Islands,Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, into its set-up, as seems likely, Robinson’s intention is to help by trying to dovetail the IPRC plans with those ofWorld Rugby.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...n/news-story/fd3a9aab5b5219f74a452c76932baca8
