Wallabies ditch law limiting selection of overseas based players
Photo:
AAP / Photosport
Rugby Australia has confirmed the rule restricting how many overseas based players Wallabies coaches can pick has been shelved.
RA said the rule, often called 'Giteau's Law' after former Wallabies midfielder Matt Giteau, hasn't been enforced for some time.
"Joe's (Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt) got no impediment to select whoever he wants. That's always been the case. The Giteau Law's kind of redundant," RA's director of high performance Peter Horne told reporters.
Former Wallabies player Matt Giteau.
Photo:
PHOTOSPORT
Despite the change of stance, Horne said Schmidt will give preference to Australian based players ahead of overseas based players if they were deemed the same quality.
"But we've also made a choice that we select domestically if the players are of equal calibre, it's important that we invest in our premier competition in Australia."
Players such as Wallabies lock Will Skelton, who has played for La Rochelle in France since 2020, is one player who would benefit from the scrapping of the rule.
Australia didn't allow overseas-based players representing the Wallabies until 2015, but when players such as Giteau and others decided to head offshore for big money contracts, RA introduced 'Giteau's Law'.
The rule meant a certain number of overseas players who had already spent much of their careers playing in Australia could still be selected for the Wallabies.
That rule has now been scrapped.
The Wallabies open their Rugby Championship campaign against the reigning champion Springboks at Ellis Park on 17 August.
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