Could Rugby Australia’s Giteau Law be relaxed
Rugby Australia faces a major dilemma about how they can pick their best players for the World Cup if they go overseas to chase more money.
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Rugby Australia plans to review its rules on selecting overseas players after being unable to prevent an exodus of top Wallabies despite excluding Will Skelton from the World Cup squad.
Under the current ‘Giteau Law’, only players who have represented the Wallabies at least 60 times can be considered for Test selection if they’re based overseas, unless they agree to return home.
But RA boss Raelene Castle said the rule would be revised given that other southern hemisphere countries have decided to relax their limits in order to pick their best players for the World Cup and plenty of Wallabies are heading overseas regardless.
“With South Africa changing the way they’re looking to treat their players and potentially New Zealand in the same process of reviewing their strong stance, as well as the movement of foreign players, it would be irresponsible for us not to review it,” she said.
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The rule was introduced in 2015 to allow Giteau and Drew Mitchell to be part of Australia’s World Cup campaign but there have been renewed calls for the number of Tests to be reduced after giant No. 8 Skelton was overlooked because he didn’t meet the threshold and opted instead to remain with his English club Saracens until mid 2021.
While Nic White and Matt Toomua were both picked for the World Cup after agreeing to return home before the World Cup, the pending departure of Wallaby vice-captain Samu Kerevi and locks Rory Arnold and Adam Coleman has prompted a rethink with Castle wanting new director of rugby Scott Johnson and high performance chief Ben Whitaker to conduct the review.
“We will have a really hard look at it to make sure we have got the risks to our businesses covered, with that law,” Castle said.
“There might end up being no changes at all. But we need to go through that thorough review process.”
Giteau himself told The Daily Telegraph earlier this year that he thinks the 60-Test limit should be reduced just for World Cup years but Castle said that might create other problems so everything needed to be weighed up.
"I am not really a fan of that because what you do is you create that opportunity for a player thinking about ‘I have finished a World Cup and now I can go and sign a three-year contract knowing that I have still a chance too,’ ” she said.
"You have to think about all the different combinations and machinations of what people, particularly players managers, will look to drive a big bus through any hole you leave. It is important we get it right.”