Wallabies captain Stephen Moore was reportedly blocked from joining Irish club Munster

WALLABIES captain Stephen Moore was reportedly close to joining Irish club Munster before the move was blocked by the Ireland Rugby Football Union.

TOPSHOTS Australia's hooker and captain Stephen Moore leaves the podium after recieving his runners up medal during the final match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup between New Zealand and Australia at Twickenham stadium, south west London, on October 31, 2015. AFP PHOTO / GLYN KIRK RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE, NO USE IN LIVE MATCH TRACKING SERVICES, TO BE USED AS NON-SEQUENTIAL STILLS

WALLABIES captain Stephen Moore was reportedly close to joining Irish club Munster after the 2016 Super Rugby season before the move was blocked by the Ireland Rugby Football Union.

Irish website The42 reported that the 32-year-old Brumbies hooker “had been close to finalising terms” with the European giants before the IRFU intervened.

Ironically, the intervention reportedly came from former Brumbies coach David Nucifora — who is now the IRFU’s performance director who is responsible for rubber stamping all professional deals in the Emerald Isle.

The42 claimed Moore was “extremely receptive to Munster’s advances” and was “ready to sign off” before Nucifora’s intervention.

Wallabies captain Stephen Moore arrives back in Sydney from the Rugby World Cup.

“It is understood that the IRFU’s main reluctance centred around the fact that Moore, who turns 33 in January but remains in superb condition, would have denied homegrown Irish-qualified players game time,” The42 reported.

Moore is currently in London preparing to play for the Barbarians against Argentina in Twickenham on the weekend.

He is off contract with the Brumbies at the end of 2016 and the Canberra Times reported that the club were preparing for life after Moore.

“We’d love [Moore] to stay, it takes a lot of headaches away from us,” Jones told the newspaper.

“When you’ve got the Wallabies skipper and hooker it’s not a bad thing.

“On every single player, on every single position, I like to have a secondary and tertiary plan because if somebody does an ACL, you’re immediately there, so you need to have a plan.”

Australia's hooker and captain Stephen Moore leaves the podium after receiving his runners up medal.

Moore’s parents are Irish and he spent his early years living in Ireland before moving to Queensland as a five-year-old.

At 32, Moore is unlikely to feature at the 2019 Rugby World Cup but would leave a huge void if he were to head offshore.

Having captained the Wallabies to the 2015 World Cup final, his leadership abilities are respected around the world and Australia is not exactly bursting at the seams with quality young hookers.

Wallabies back-up Tatafu Polota-Nau is 30 and has a history of concussion problems, with James Hanson (27), Nathan Charles (26) and Saia Fainga’a (28) the next in line.

Originally published as Wallabies captain Stephen Moore was reportedly blocked from joining Irish club Munster