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Rugby Australia confirm Giteau Law review

Cape Town - Rugby Australia has announced they are set to review the Giteau Law which could see more overseas-based players selected for the Wallabies.

CEO Raelene Castle confirmed the news and highlighted the ever changing landscape of the global game as one reason for considering changes.

At present players who are overseas are only eligible if they have played 60 or more Tests and have seven years of rugby service in Australia.

On the back of their World Cup squad announcement, Castle believes they must review the rules, saying: “We have a responsibility to do it.”

“The Giteau rule has worked really well for us and if you think about the players we couldn’t select for the World Cup, there is probably only three or four and say they would have had a big crack at making the Wallabies for the World Cup.

“That said, with South Africa changing the way they’re looking to treat their players and potentially New Zealand in the process of reviewing their very strong stance on things around players not playing overseas, and the movement of foreign players, it would be irresponsible of us not to review it.”

Players from the southern hemisphere are regularly tempted by the lure of European and Japanese club rugby and while Castle appreciates that, she remains committed to keeping players in Australia.

“The fundamental, though, is that we need our good players playing Super Rugby,” she said.

“We need to make sure we look at it from that perspective, and don’t give any open doors for opportunities for players to think: ‘well I am going to disappear and not play Super Rugby and then I am dead cert to get selected for the World Cup’. That’s the balance.

“I just know we will have a really hard look at it to make sure we have got the risks to our businesses covered, with that law, and there might end up being no changes at all. But we need to go through that thorough review process.”

Castle continued: “In the first instance we will have Scott Johnson and Ben Whitaker and myself sit around and look at it, to start off with, and say from all the different elements, contracting, the Wallabies being competitive, what are the competitors doing, what does regulation 9 mean about bringing players back and forward, does that mean they are less interesting to foreign clubs when you are taking them out all the time under reg 9, which is sort of the South African path.

“All those different elements and then throw all those things together, starting on the basis that the Giteau Law has been working really well.”

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