Former Wallabies captain calls for scrapping of Giteau Law in wake of Kurtley Beale's offshore move
Kurtley Beale’s impending move to French rugby could become the norm for the cash-strapped code and former Wallabies captain Andrew Slack admits the scrapping of the Giteau Law seems the only logical response.
NSW Waratahs and Wallabies utility back Beale had his long-touted two-year deal confirmed by the Paris-based Racing 92 on Tuesday morning.
Melbourne Rebels and emerging Wallabies forward Luke Jones will join him at the glamour club from next season, with both set to play in Rugby Australia’s truncated domestic Super Rugby competition before departing.
The move isn’t uncommon, with both players previously enjoying European stints and many others crossing to the NRL or signing rich foreign deals.
But with Rugby Australia seeking a broadcast partner beyond this season and their brittle financial state laid bare it could prove more difficult than normal to retain talent.
Presently, only those who have played over 60 tests and served seven years in Australia can be picked from an overseas club to play for the Wallabies.
The rule allowed Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell to play in the 2015 World Cup and would see Beale – who’s played 92 Tests – comfortably qualify if incoming coach Dave Rennie seeks the 31-year-old’s services.
Slack said in an ideal world the best Australian players would be playing on home soil week-to-week, but that “this isn’t an ideal world and it wasn’t one six months ago either”.
“If all those things (contributing to a drop in RA’s finances) hinted at happening do happen then, yes we are in a tight spot and the reality is we will lose people to rugby league or overseas clubs,” he told AAP.
“I’m not exactly sure what could be done about it but we’ve been dealing with that for 50 years and the only thing that may come from it is forgetting about the Giteau Law.
“It’s probably a reality and it’s worked pretty well for the Socceroos.
“Like with the Socceroos, (Rugby Australia would have to) manage a worthwhile domestic competition and an international schedule which allows players from overseas to play.”
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Waratahs captain Rob Simmons praised the club’s most-capped player, who also enjoyed a stint with the Rebels on his way to 162 Super Rugby caps.
“We’re going to miss a player like that. It’s huge and this next little bit of competition, whatever does get off the ground will be a good chance for him to really send us off,” he said.
The captain admitted it was “quite daunting” to be confronted by the sorry state of rugby, admitting that he wasn’t sure how players’ contracts would be impacted in the future.
“It’ll be wait and see at what is possible; it is a bit daunting in that sense that guys are going to be looking after their No.1s,” he said of the potential for more player movement.
“Every code’s having their own struggles but everyone’s trying their best and that’s all they can do to get us back to where we were.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to comments