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Cape Town - Waratahs
chief executive Andrew Hore has revealed that the franchise won't be
signing Jarryd Hayne in a "watershed moment" for the team.
According to foxsports.com.au, the 'Tahs have opted to look more longer term as they hope to improve after missing this year's knockouts.
"We are not going to pursue Jarryd at this present point in time, and I think it is a watershed moment for the organisation,” said Hore.
"We feel with the fact that we have combined both NSW and Waratahs rugby that our first priority has got to be making NSW a great rugby state again and that's got to be our primary focus.
"Now, is a quick fix going to do that?
"We don't think it is.
"We think the issues in our game are that broad and deep that we want to focus on resolving those, and when you've already got 10-plus Wallabies - plus Israel Folau in our team - we feel that there's enough star-power there at this stage.
He added: "Maybe it's about utilising their skill-set more, while at the same time increasing investment into the things that are going to make us a great rugby state once again."
"We believe we've got to focus more on those others areas of the game: youth development, infrastructure and building the game of rugby union for all shapes and sizes.
"Now, there's no doubt that if there was unlimited resources, that a player like Jarryd Hayne may have been of real benefit.
"But right now we have a new and exciting young group of players, (and) combined with the needs of our game to put it back on an even keel, talking to Jarryd probably at the moment isn’t the right thing for us as a sport.
"First and foremost we’ve got to continue to look at how we grow our own.
"We’ve got a new and exciting leadership group in our team, and a lot of new players coming in next year, so it's really important that we ensure that we grow and invest in an environment which helps them excel, and sometimes if you redirect that financial resource it means you can't do that."
Hayne is currently without a club and recently missed out on selection for Fiji's Sevens squad ahead of the Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil.
