‘Reduce Giteau Law to 40 caps’
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: England coach Eddie Jones believes Rugby Australia should drop the ‘Giteau Law’ threshold from 60-caps to 40-caps.
Rugby Australia’s overseas-player eligibility rule known as the “Giteau Law” was introduced in 2015 to allow dispensation for a certain category of players to be selected from overseas.
The Rule state that if a player has more than 60 caps and seven years of service inside Australian rugby, they do not have to be playing in Australia to qualify for the national team. Matt Giteau was the first player to qualify and was called up.
However, in recent times there have been calls for Australia to follow in the footsteps of new world champions South Africa, who scrapped their similar, 30-cap threshold.
While, others, including Jones, think the threshold could be at least reduced.
“I think maybe they need to reconsider that Giteau’s law,” Jones revealed to ABC’s flagship 730 program.
“Players move around a lot more now and maybe the number of caps needs to be reduced.
“Maybe the number should be 40 caps in the future, which allows more flexibility.
“Players will move because they are professional players now.”
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Currently, on a book tour, the England boss also shared his view on Dave Rennie’s appointment as Wallabies head coach.
Following Jones’ success with the England side, many wanted Rugby Australia to pursue Jones as Michael Cheika’s replacement.
However, Jones showed no public interesting in leaving England and returning to Australia, either, and poaching him from the RFU, the richest union the world, would have been an expensive assignment.
“There was no formal discussion,” Jones said.
“There was a brief text exchange with no actual in-depth discussion about whether I was interested in coaching Australia.
“I think it was a convenient conversation for the ARU to have, to be honest.
“I don’t think they were really interested in bringing me back as the Australian coach.”
He added: “Dave Rennie will do a good job, he’s a very good coach.
“He’s got a good way with people, so I think he’ll bring the team together.”
“Ideally, Australia would like to have an Australian [coach], but if the best candidate is a Kiwi, go with the Kiwi,” he said.
“What we’re seeing is the globalisation of sport, which happens in nearly every endeavour of life.
“If you look at most countries around the world, apart from probably New Zealand and France, they’ve got non-native coaches. And that’s how sport’s going.”
Source: @Rugbycomau
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