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Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan has moved to cool the hype over a return to ‘open slater’ Wallabies selection and the abolition of the Giteau Law that prevents most overseas based players from playing Test match rugby.
The Roar columnist and 110-cap Wallaby Will Genia said this week that it was time to shed old school thinking and pick every available player for the team in a bid to become more competitive.
Genia said that South Africa’s decision to scrap a similar restrictive selection policy had helped them become World Cup winners and the top ranked Test nation.
Rugby Australia chief executive Andy Marinos told reporters on the weekend that the Giteau Law was being examined and was under discussion even before the Wallabies’ record breaking loss to New Zealand on Saturday.
Speaking on Stan Sport’s Rugby Heaven show on Tuesday, McLennan said: “We’re not heading to open slather.
“We’re just looking at how we can tweak and refine the current Giteau Law as it stands.
“Eligibility is really around are there one or two players out there that we can bring in and/or see how we can improve the player squad for a World Cup tournament.
Hamish McLennan. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“So we’re not going to move to the South African model at all. But like all things it’s open to debate and we’re turning over every stone at Rugby Australia and have done for the past year. So the time is now for us look at it.”
In the wake of the weekend reports there has been some push back from the Super Rugby clubs, who believe allowing players to take up lucrative contracts in Europe or Japan yet still retain the right to wear the Wallaby jersey would undermine the domestic product.
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Waratahs chief Paul Doorn as saying: “The Waratahs’ view is pretty clear. What we want to see is the Super Rugby competition being the best provincial rugby competition in the world.
“We want access to the best possible players to play in that space and we need to be able to afford to do that.
“But from time to time, one of the best aspects about playing rugby is you have the ability to play around the world. We have no problems with people being brought back from overseas.
“I guess it’s just about maintaining NSW being an attractive club to play for in an attractive competition to play in.”
McLennan told Rugby Heaven it was crucial that Australia could field five competitive Super Rugby teams.
“I’m a free marketeer by trade and if people do want to go overseas, whether it be to France or Japan or UK then so be it,” said McLennan.
“But I think for us and our model and what we’re trying to achieve, we want to keep as many of the good players here locally playing in Super Rugby.
“If you look at the local competition in South Africa it’s been decimated so we don’t want to move to that model whatsoever.”
McLennan was also quizzed on Super Rugby’s expansion plans, with Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika teams slated to join the competition.
“It would be an incredible statement to make to World Rugby, if we can get there,” he said.
“And I think long-term we’d like to see how we can bring a Japanese team or a US team into the fold.
“If we can do that then I think we’re going to have a good local competition, grooming our players right through the system, right through the high performance area, and it will be really strong to all our commercial partners.
“And I think that’s the most critical thing we’re looking at at the moment.”