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Rugby Australia close door on disgraced former NRL star
Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle has ruled out the possibility of disgraced rugby league and former Toulon star Ben Barba from making a return to rugby union in Australia should he be banned from the NRL.
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Barba was sacked by new club North Queensland on Monday after CCTV footage emerged of an incident at a Townsville casino during Australia Day weekend, where he is alleged to have assaulted his partner and mother of their four children.
The incident is being investigated by police, and NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said he would deny registering any contract signed by Barba in the future if he is found guilty.
With Australian rugby league seemingly no longer an option for the 29-year-old, his career options appear thin, with Rugby Australia following in the footsteps of the English Rugby Football League by implementing the ban imposed on Barba by the NRL.
“In relation to players who have received bans from one sport there is an etiquette agreement that you can’t then just go from rugby league to rugby union and play the next week,” Castle told Fox Sports Australia on Monday.
“I would expect that anything in relation to a situation like that, that would stand because when you’re talking about issues at that level we need to make sure the codes are supporting each other.”
Castle said she believed the same stance would be held by offshore clubs should a rugby union player be banned, but she could not rule out the prospect of a banned rugby league player, like Barba, playing rugby union overseas.
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“I think it’s slightly more challenging across international boundaries when it’s across codes but that’s what we have in Australia,” she said.
That could open up rugby union options in Europe and Japan for Barba, who signed a multi-million dollar two-year deal with Toulon in 2017.
However, he was released and signed for English rugby league side St Helens after appearing in just four matches over a three-month period in the Top 14.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
The Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
2 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
2 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
2 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
2 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
2 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
2 Go to commentsNice piece of writing. And yes the Sharks pulled a rabbit from the hat and were a little lucky with that penalty try that wasn’t given… however the Sharks (with their resources) should be way more consistent and should be putting teams like Claremont away for breakfast. I expect more from them and hope they kick on now.
8 Go to commentsJust what the Sharks needed to get things going in the right direction Defence on the outside really creates havoc for the whole team and needs to be addressed.
8 Go to commentsWell done guys both teams will be ready to play knockout rugby.
1 Go to commentsSurprised that Ramos isn't starting at 15. But what a squad of galacticos!
2 Go to commentsWhy is it a snub? What journalistic garbage is that? Sure the guy is a great player, but there are plenty of loose forwards and not all of them can be Springboks. Also, I know of no-one who doubts Rassie’s judgment. South Africa has a conveyor belt of loose forwards that just keeps producing, so the competition is intense. I certainly wish him well, but there is no entitlement and there is no snub.
17 Go to commentsSkelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
6 Go to comments