Is it time for the Wallabies to call on the international brigade?

After a chastening 26-point defeat against South Africa last week in Brisbane that could have been worse, one of the most frequently asked questions in Australian rugby grew a little louder.

Can the Wallabies still afford to play a predominantly domestic-based squad and ignore their talented and growing international brigade of eligible players? Like most things in Australian rugby, the answer is never simple.

Five years ago, South Africa Rugby decided to scrap their 30-cap eligibility selection rule and welcome the best available overseas players into the Springbok fold. The decision was not made lightly, given there were significant fears that it could lead to an exodus of domestic talent.

“We have been agonising over how to keep players in the country since the game went professional more than 20 years ago and the bottom line is that the rand is too weak and the economy of South African rugby too small to compete,” coach Rassie Erasmus said at the time of the decision.

The loosening of eligibility criteria helped to bank the Springboks back-to-back World Cups in 2019 and 2023. The freedom to select the best players has also given South Africa perhaps the greatest depth chart in world rugby.

Former Springbok and World Cup winner Bob Skinstad played overseas and club rugby in South Africa, and feels that the new open selection policy has hugely helped the Springboks thrive and also grown rugby.

Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell and Adam Ashley-Cooper before a Test against South Africa in 2015.Credit: Getty

“I do have a view that where possible, you need to have those best players,” Skinstad said. “You need to play the best rugby players available for your international representative teams.

“Because winning at that [international] level makes people excited about winning at the domestic level, which makes people excited about participating in the game, which helps the participation numbers.”

“I think Rassie Erasmus and South African rugby have erred on the side of finding ways to win as a national team and made that the most important thing and I think it’s working for us, so maybe that’s something that would work for Australia.”

The Wallabies’ problem isn’t necessarily the strength of the Australian dollar, instead, it is a relatively narrow talent pool, squeezed further by other fiercely competitive domestic professional football codes all fighting for the best athletes.

Australian rugby also risks losing its best teenage talent to countries like France which have strict quotas to fill of nationally developed players who spent three years in an approved training centre before turning 21.

Waratahs second-rower Miles Amatosero is a key example of the policy, having joined Clermont directly from Waverley College, spending four years at the club and debuting in the Top 14 at 18.

The Giteau Law was last tweaked in 2022: players need to have 30 Test caps or five years service to Australian rugby to be eligible, with a limitation to three picks per series.

Former Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell was a beneficiary of the very first iteration of the law in 2015 when he was selected for Australia in the World Cup while playing for Toulon in France.

‘It’s not black and white, it’s more around how do we support Joe ... to maximise the performance of the Wallabies.’

Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh

Mitchell now believes that Australian rugby is at a point where it must open its selection policy as wide as possible to compete with the best in the world.

“I’m of the opinion that we can’t use the Wallabies, our flagship team in the men’s game, as a development team,” Mitchell said. “If we’ve got our best players, then they should be picked wherever they’re playing.”

“We’re at a point now where we need success, we need to be having wins and I think off the back of success comes sponsorship, money and interest and all the rest of it, so one feeds the other. It’s a chicken and egg kind of scenario.”

Mitchell enjoyed four successful years in France, where he played with some of the world’s best players. He believes that a change in eligibility will not create a player drain, but in fact, will help ultimately strengthen Australian Super Rugby teams.

South Africa captain Siya Kolisi is currently contracted to Racing 92 in France.Credit: Getty

“There’s players going over regardless, right? So you’re probably still going to get the same amount of players going over, it might just be players at different stages of their career,” Mitchell said.

”I also so think it’s a good thing for someone like [Angus] Bell or someone in their younger years to go over and experience the set piece and the front-row type of work that they’re getting over there and then come back in the prime of their careers, rather than losing players in their prime, let them go and develop over there, and then they come back here [to Australia] in their prime.“

In Perth, ahead of the second Test against the Springboks, Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh is fully aware of the conversation around expanding Wallabies’ selection overseas.

“With Joe [Schmidt], he’s only four Tests into his tenure, and he’s come out of two environments, with Ireland and New Zealand where he’s a had great success in his selection processes and criteria, and it’s an open item for the conversation.

“It’s not black and white, it’s more around how do we support Joe and his coaching team to maximise performance of the Wallabies.”

Waugh is closely supporting Schmidt to ensure that he has the best possible squad, but is also working with his coach’s former employer New Zealand Rugby (NZR).

In 2022, RA signed a deal with NZR to extend their joint venture agreement from 2024 to secure the future of Super Rugby until 2030.

Given the All Blacks selection policy remains steadfast in only picking domestic players, there is a need for New Zealand to have the strongest possible professional club competition, which ultimately affects Australia.

It is hoped France-based Wallabies second row Will Skelton will play a role in the Rugby Championship.Credit: Getty

“We’ve got a really good relationship with New Zealand at the moment, we’re working really closely on how do we maximise the performances in Super Rugby Pacific,” Waugh said.

“Within the agreement, it’s important to have protections to ensure that our Super Rugby clubs are as strong as possible to compete as best we can against these other Super Rugby clubs, including Moana Pasifika and Fiji [Drua] and so I think with their [New Zealand] eligibility criteria, then we’ve got to be very conscious of any amendments that we do to our eligibility criteria.”

Does Waugh see potential in a more pragmatic approach of Australian players crossing the ditch to play Super Rugby while still being eligible to play for the Wallabies and vice versa for All Blacks?

“At this point in time, there obviously hasn’t been that change, but I think that we’ve got a fairly open mind around, how do you strengthen the league?” Waugh said.

”How do you strengthen the interest in rugby in our region and how do you get creative around some of those ideas so that that conversation is live and on the table and when the time is right time for it, we’ll work through it.“

Waugh said that the Giteau law, like any policy within RA, is not set in concrete and can be potentially reviewed in the future.

“[With] The way that sports are going, agility is really important, and not being stuck in your ways, and not being too stubborn and having a closed mind,” Waugh said. “So, yeah, we’re open to continually review and look at what policies we have in place.”

Ahead of Saturday, Schmidt named his sole overseas selection Marika Koroibete on the left wing against the Springboks but remains confident with the squad that he has available at his disposal.

“Taniela [Tupou] won’t be playing for us again this week, so he would add a bit of value in the scrum without going overseas, and it’s not like there’s a wealth of overseas players in the tight five,” Schmidt said.

“Obviously, I’ve had a few conversations with Will [Skelton] and it’s a little bit complicated through the Rugby Championship, it’s not to say that he might not appear at some stage in the championship, or certainly later in the year, but we are pretty committed to trying to grow some of our own resources here.”

“We’ve used over 40 players so far, and I know we’ve got to win Tests straight away, and we’re very focused on that. But we’re trying to build a group of 45-50 (players) that best vaccinate us against injury, particularly injury and double injury in the same position.“

Watch all the action from The Rugby Championship with every match streaming ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport. Round 2 kicks off Saturday, August 17 with All Blacks v Argentina (4pm AEST) and Wallabies v South Africa (7:00pm AEST).