A strange silence from the Tuqiri camp

James: all fair points. We are all speculating here, and the speculating is made even more difficult by the fact that we cannot mention the content of the strong rumour about what Tuqiri has done. Time will tell. But it seems highly unlikely to me that events are unfolding as JON envisaged. Deans has to agree publicly with his boss, but I cannot imagine that JON is perky about it being made public that the Wallaby captain is very concerned about what has happened. There are some good comments to this effect with today's article "Tuqiri sues ARU in NSW Supreme Court". As far as JON's letter is concerned, all I meant is that a boss cannot write a letter that unilaterally changes the terms of an employment contract. To give a (silly) example to make the point, JON can write to Tuqiri "If you take another breath, you will be sacked", but quite obviously such a letter has no legal validity.

What's so odd about that? Lote was the biggest name rugby had recruited from League, so when he signed on for rugby the excitement was widespread. Now he's someone who has stuffed up off the field once too many times. I don't see any hypocrisy in criticising Lote now, and expecting him to pay the price for his actions.

Greg I have to address a couple of the comments you've made. 1. you said you'd be amazed if the ARU could win the litigation, if the rumours about why he was sacked are true. Why? There are clear protocols about matter such as who is allowed into rooms and his employment presumably says if you breach them, your employment can be terminated. He did breach them, and the ARU exercised its contractual right to terminate his contract. 2. I'm not sure what you mean about the letter from JON having "legal validity", but most likely it will be admissible evidence. it may have expanded on what is in the employment contract, or it may have contained additional terms. if it is admitted as evidence and taken into consideration by the judge, then I would have thought that gives it "legal validity". 3. Lote's lawyer is a close mate of Roy Masters (I've seen them having a beer together) and acted for the NRL in the Super League war/fiasco. I have no doubt he would be happy to do what he can to make the ARU look silly. From what I can gather, let me add the following generally: A. I think Lote breached his contract, that is not in doubt, and the ARU were entitled to terminate his contract, which it did. I think Lote will be arguing some sort of unfairness category, that whilst strictly it was a breach, it was minor and unfair for the ARU to use it to terminate his contract. If two parties sign a contract and were in an equal bargaining position at the time, courts should be reluctant to alter the terms of the contracts unless there are exceptional circumstances. B. RUPA seem to be taking part because of rumours JON had a vendetta against LT or used a minor breach to divest himself of an expensive contract. Players seem to be scared that a minor infraction could result in them losing their contract. Someone must have been fearmongering, because LT had had several warnings and what he did is not, in the context of a team camp, something I would consider minor.

well it looks like Lote isn't bluffing and it will head into the courts, can't wait for it get going. This will be better than "bold and the beautiful"!!!! I hope their is not a last minute settlement, we will miss all the juicy bits and i want to see how accurate all these rumours are I have been getting emailed to me. Ah but the ashes are on so rugby can take a back seat for the moment!!!

JON/PdV 0 - 1 New Zealand.

HaHa lol OJ - you are dead right - if nothing else the Tuquiri sacking creates a ready made excuse for long suffering Wallaby fans in the likely event of Tri Nations failure this season.

Lote would've scored 6 tries, Australia would've won 107-0 and Deans would've taught them to play what's in front of you behind you.

I dont think it will effect Australia one little bit OJ...but hey I could be wrong :(

I'd like to personally thank John O'Neill for the opening he has given us in the Eden Park Test. John, if you're reading this, you are a wonderful sports adminstrator and I'm sure you'll cock up the Super 15 magnificently.

I think Hammer is right and even if there was a connection I dont think they would give two Nat Myles about Tuqiri and his predicament.

Greg - C9 isn't owned by the Packers anymore ... so can't see them being in the mix with this

Another thought: I wonder if JON follows the Tour de France? If so he should have noticed the case of Tom Boonen, one of the world's leading sprinters. The TdF organizers banned him from competing in this year's race, because for the second time he recently failed an out-of-competition test for cocaine. However this does not violate WADA's drug code (only in-competition use of cocaine, a la Wendell, is banned). Boonen took the matter to the French courts, who decided that the TdF organizers had acted illegally. Thus Boonen won a last-minute reprieve and is riding the race. Moral of the story? Sacking sportspeople over morality issues is exceptionally difficult to defend in court.

I am returning to this site after not having had time to make a comment yesterday. I see that Zac has had to remove some comments. If the rumour they contained is true, then suffice it to say that I'd be amazed if the ARU could win litigation over whether this is a sackable offence. Whatever Lote has done, the litigation will come down to what his contract forbids, and also what O'Neill wrote to him in 2007 (the so-called "last-chance letter"). Even with regard to the letter it is not so simple, because unless it is consistent with the contract or unless the player signs that he agrees with what the letter lays down, then I'm not sure that the letter can have legal validity. I am surprised that no-one has mentioned that the lawyer Tuqiri has engaged is one of Kerry Packer's. So one would assume that the guy is good, and it is also possible that this will bring Channel 9 into play. If so, then O'Neill is getting into very dangerous territory, because it is obvious why Channel 9 would have an interest in Tuqiri succeeding (or to put it another way, why they would have an interest in making JON and the ARU look silly).

Jameswm: 'Just what we need on the eve of the Tri-Nations'. Exactly. And I assume that since Lote's beaks may believe that the timing of the announcement by the ARU to sack him was designed to cause maximum damage, they may return the compliment at some stage.( see Westy's good posts above)

Great. Just what we need on the eve of the Tri-Nations. I think the players said they don't know what happened, but I find that hard to believe.

Fellow Roarers - RUPA has issued the follwing press release regarding the matter. I am not normally in the habit of regurgitating PR but I think the context requires it here: "The Rugby Union Players' Association Inc (''RUPA") today announced an official investigation and probe into the circumstances surrounding the ARU's and NSWRU's actions in terminating Lote Tuqiri's contract last week. The RUPA represents the interests of all full time professional contracted rugby players in Australia and has a Collective Bargaining Agreement (''CBA") with the ARU and State Unions which provides amongst other things that the ARU and State Unions must employ players pursuant to the terms of the Standard Player Contract. There is an obligation that the ARU and NSWRU must comply with the provisions of the Standard Player Contract when dealing with players employment provisions including any termination provisions of a RUPA member such as Lote. RUPA will appoint an independent high profile retired judge to lead an investigation to determine firstly whether the ARU and NSWRU have complied with the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and secondly whether the ARU and NSWRU have exercised bona fides and good faith when terminating Lote's contract last week. The investigation will explore amongst other things: 1. Reasons for Lote's termination; 2. Provisions of the Standard Player Contract relied upon by the ARU and NSWRU when terminating Lote's contract; 3. What processes and procedures were and were not followed by the ARU and NSWRU. Rod Kafer, President of the RUPA said: "We have information surrounding this incident to warrant an investigation into the ARU's and NSWRU's conduct. We need to ensure the ARU and NSWRU have honored the terms of the CBA and that the actions of the ARU and NSWRU last week are not in breach of any players' rights under their contract. We have legal rights under the terms of the CBA which we will defend on behalf of our members. RUPA and its members will do whatever it reasonably takes to ensure its members' rights are protected. This summary dismissal of a RUPA member and the circumstances in which it has occurred raises concerns about the current and future intentions of the ARU and NSWRU which demand clarification". Tony Dempsey Chief Executive Officer of the RUPA said: "I have spoken to the Captain of the Wallabies and many from the Wallaby team and they have genuine concerns about the manner in which Lote's sacking has been handled by the ARU and NSWRU. The Wallabies are deeply saddened for the loss of Lote from the team and Australian Rugby as I am sure many of the fans out there are. Players want confidence that unless they seriously undermine the integrity and confidence of the game and its reputation or are in serious repeated breach of their contract that they can rely on the administrators honoring their side of the bargain. An "iron curtain" has descended on relations between the players and senior management of the ARU. Players feel fearful and intimidated of the ARU. We need to restore trust and credibility with the games administrators. We need to have the sanctity of the Standard Player Contract upheld and have clarity on what actions constitute summary termination of a RUPA member's contract. It is not a healthy environment for the players to be operating at present in and not one that is conducive to playing quality rugby. It is one in which we intend to rectify in the interests of Australian Rugby". Could be interesting.

Brett On the money. St Gregory's College. Though we haven't dominated the Schoolboys comp in a number of years. We have been producing more individual talent rather than great teams. We had a less than serious run at Rugby back in my senior years. Only in the GPS 2nd's in place of High. Didn't do to bad. But I often wonder how'd we do if much of the team took it seriously.

Gatesy, allegedly Rathbone was actually on his way to sign a Waratahs contract to replace LT, but rather unfortunately turned an ankle on an extra coarse blade of grass. He's out for 8 months.

oops, sorry zac, I just put up a rumour I had heard and have now read your post. Delete at your leisure!!!! But, I don't understand why is it such a delicate issue? C'mon, Lote, fill us in!!!! Sheek, spot on!!!!! reapin' and sowin'

WCR, you'd be those guys in sky blue and maroon that used to dominate the Commonwealth Bank Cup. We wear blue with gold vees and and a good run in the University Shield around the same time. No names quite as illustrious as yours, but Simon Gillies, David Woods and Brendan Reeves are a couple that graduated to the top grade. Bryan Norrie I think would be the most recent (and maybe the last, football's gone downhill a bit in recent years..)