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Hunter Paisami the latest Wallaby linked with Premiership move- report

By Josh Raisey
Hunter Paisami smiles during the Australia Wallabies Captain's Run at Cranbrook School on September 02, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Australia and Reds centre Hunter Paisami is the subject of a tug-fo-war between Rugby Australia and the Gallagher Premiership’s Exeter Chiefs, according to Australian outlet The Roar. 

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The in-form centre is currently weighing up his options, with the Chiefs reportedly tabling a long-term offer while RA have only offered a one-year top-up on his current deal.

The 26-year-old would not be the only Wallaby centre heading to the Premiership should he accept Exeter’s offer, with Waratahs centre Izaia Perese set to join Leicester Tigers ahead of next season.

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Paisami is in line for a Wallabies recall by new coach Joe Schmidt after missing out on Eddie Jones’ World Cup squad last year, but this move may change the Wallabies selector’s plans.

Exeter, meanwhile, have three Test centres on their books currently in England’s Henry Slade and Ollie Devoto, and Wales’ Joe Hawkins, which could hint at a potential departure at the end of the season.

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This would be a statement signing by the Chiefs, and will come after director of rugby Rob Baxter recently said the Premiership must compete with big-spending clubs in Europe.

Baxter’s comments came after Leinster recruited All Black Jordie Barrett ahead of next season.

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“If Irish rugby, Leinster and the United Rugby Championship can get their house in order to allow them to invest in players, their programme and their coaches like they do, you have to say fair play,” he said.

“My response would be, ‘let’s not try to say it’s not fair and limit Leinster, let’s look to ways we can get to that level of competition with them’.

“You can look around and say, ‘let’s stop everyone else doing it because we can’t do it’. Or you go, ‘what are they doing to develop that level of interest and finance and why can’t we do it?’.

“I don’t think it’s bad for these competitions to have world-class players. What we want to find out is ways that we can do it as well.

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“You have to work to make the competition look attractive and the way the game is played look attractive.

“To get that deal in place to sign a player you have to get a lot of financial bits and pieces right – and that runs right from the top of the game to the bottom in the country.

“There’s a lot we have to do to get to that level, but why shouldn’t we be aiming for it? That’s what we should be trying to do.”

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D
Diarmid 4 hours ago
Players and referees must cut out worrying trend in rugby – Andy Goode

The guy had just beasted himself in a scrum and the blood hadn't yet returned to his head when he was pushed into a team mate. He took his weight off his left foot precisely at the moment he was shoved and dropped to the floor when seemingly trying to avoid stepping on Hyron Andrews’ foot. I don't think he was trying to milk a penalty, I think he was knackered but still switched on enough to avoid planting 120kgs on the dorsum of his second row’s foot. To effectively “police” such incidents with a (noble) view to eradicating play acting in rugby, yet more video would need to be reviewed in real time, which is not in the interest of the game as a sporting spectacle. I would far rather see Farrell penalised for interfering with the refereeing of the game. Perhaps he was right to be frustrated, he was much closer to the action than the only camera angle I've seen, however his vocal objection to Rodd’s falling over doesn't legitimately fall into the captain's role as the mouthpiece of his team - he should have kept his frustration to himself, that's one of the pillars of rugby union. I appreciate that he was within his rights to communicate with the referee as captain but he didn't do this, he moaned and attempted to sway the decision by directing his complaint to the player rather than the ref. Rugby needs to look closely at the message it wants to send to young players and amateur grassroots rugby. The best way to do this would be to apply the laws as they are written and edit them where the written laws no longer apply. If this means deleting laws such as ‘the put in to the scrum must be straight”, so be it. Likewise, if it is no longer necessary to respect the referee’s decision without questioning it or pre-emptively attempting to sway it (including by diving or by shouting and gesticulating) then this behaviour should be embraced (and commercialised). Otherwise any reference to respecting the referee should be deleted from the laws. You have to start somewhere to maintain the values of rugby and the best place to start would be giving a penalty and a warning against the offending player, followed by a yellow card the next time. People like Farrell would rapidly learn to keep quiet and let their skills do the talking.

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