I want out, says Paul

[chook]

I want out, says Paul

By Peter Jenkins

May 22, 2007 12:00
Article from: The Daily Telegraph

VETERAN hooker Jeremy Paul has accused Wallaby selectors of double standards as he fights to take up an English club offer before the World Cup.

Paul told The Daily Telegraph "I just want to move on with my life" after failing to make the 30-man squad for a two-Test series against Wales that opens in Sydney on Saturday night.

ARU bosses are refusing to grant Paul's request to join Gloucester mid-year, with coach John Connolly claiming the 72-Test veteran is still in the frame for the World Cup campaign in France in September.

But Paul, who stood down yesterday from the Australia A team to play Tonga at Aussie Stadium on Friday, is adamant he wants out before his contract expires at the end of the year.

"If I finished the Super 14 season the way I started, I would understand (being overlooked)," he said.

"My first six games this year were rubbish. But I don't think I could have played any better over the last half of the competition.

"At the end of the day, John talks about picking on form. Yet he's picked a captain (Phil Waugh) who has only played a couple of games all season. So where's the picking on form?

"You can pull the form card out when you want it, but it's pretty hard to take."

Paul denied his withdrawal from the Australia A squad was an open one-man boycott.

"I've got a bad shoulder at the moment," he said. "I was pretty happy to play injured for the Brumbies but not now. No more jabs."

But Paul said he had spoken to Connolly and explained his lack of desire to play Australia A.

"You play those games to get back into World Cup contention," Paul said. "Well, that sort of defeats the whole purpose of asking for a release.

"I just want to move on to the next chapter of my life. And this is not a knee-jerk reaction where I haven't been picked so I'm going to spit my dummy."

Australia's most capped hooker explained he set about searching for offshore options when initially overlooked for the Wallaby squad at the start of last year.

While he fought his way back to play all nine Tests before missing the end of season tour with a finger injury, Paul always intended to ask for an early release if he missed the Wallaby squad in the countdown to the World Cup.

Stephen Moore and Adam Freier were the two hookers preferred for the Welsh series.

"But Jeremy is still very much in World Cup reckoning," Connolly said. "Three hookers may well go to France and it's a very contentious position at the moment. We could also get an injury or two and that would change everything.

"If we do review Jeremy's position it would only be after the World Cup team is selected."

NSW goalkicker Peter Hewat last night confirmed his Australia A selection – he will start at fullback against Tonga – had not altered his stance on seeking a release.

"Nothing has changed," he said. "I'm surprised to be here after not being named as one of the top 59 players a couple of weeks ago. But I'm looking forward to playing some footy and hopefully proving some people wrong."

[hopep]

I have to say this is not surprising.

When a coach, and management, continually send mixed messages to players (or potential players) they are going to be confused or undicided and head off in different directions.

Paul has been a Wallabies walk up for several years, he's nursed an injury and is then told - sorry I don't want you in the sqaud. Naturally he starts to plan for his next move - as any professional would. "where is my money coming from ?"

Hewat gets told, your not up to the top 59 for 'train-on' ... then gets called up for Australia A putting him in the top 44 players in the country. No wonder everyone is confused.

This is becoming a Farce (a French Farce )

The ARU don't need a new CEO - they need a pull through with a pine tree !

[Burgs]

I really don't care if it's the way the rest of the World is going, we really have to stop treating Test Caps as Trial Caps.
A Test Match should have the 22 best available players in the country playing the best 22 available players from the other country.
To say that Stephen Moore and Adam Freier are both better and in better form than Jeremy Paul is a disgrace and to say Tai McIsaac, a rare breed who can also play Prop, is not in the best four Hookers in this country is a farce.
We would be none the worse off if Knuckles was sacked right now and a stand in Coach was appointed.
Mitch for five months springs to mind...

[AndyS]

I agree Burgs, but think it is something the IRB should sort out. My suggestion would be that the world cup pools not be decided until shortly before the tournament, and then based on world rankings. It would make all tests significant wrt what pool you get drawn in, and would also mix up the pools from cup to cup cos' they don't change much at the moment.

[Flat-top]

Just be careful what you wish for Andy, the current situation favours both Australia and England and penalises Ireland and France. By using the previous cup as a ranking Australia currently seeded 3rd have only to contend with the 8th, 14th and 18th seeded teams in the group stages while seeds 2, 4, & 6 are all in the same group!

[AndyS]

I'm aware of the implications, but still think it would be an interesting idea. It would certainly put the interest back into the Test matches. What we have for this WC is:

__POOL A__________POOL B_________POOL C_________POOL D
_England (7)______Australia (3)___New Zealand (1)____France (2)
South Africa (5)____Wales (8)______Scotland (11)_____Ireland (4)
_Samoa (10)________Fiji (12)________Italy (9)_______Argentina (6)
__USA (13)________Canada (14)____Romania (15)______Georgia (17)
_Tonga (16)_______Japan (18)_____Portugal (21)______Namibia (24)

On a ranking system with a cut-off date this week, it could have been:

__POOL A__________POOL B_________POOL C_________POOL D
New Zealand (1)__._France (2)______Australia (3)______Ireland (4)
__Wales (8)_______England (7)_____Argentina (6)____South Africa (5)
___Italy (9)________Samoa (10)____Scotland (11)______Fiji (12)
__Tonga (16)______Romania (15)____Canada (14)______USA (13)
__Georgia (17)______Japan (18)_____Portugal (21)_____Namibia (24)

But had the cut-off been last week, Samoa and Scotland would have been swapped over...imagine the significance then of the EOY tours.

[felixnelson]

yeah ts sucks
france ireland and argentina should all be in the final 8

[Burgs]

Paul is open to contract compromise

Rupert Guinness
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Jeremy Paul is willing to make himself available for the Wallabies during the World Cup - if he is granted an early release from his Australian contract.

The hooker, a veteran of 72 Tests, yesterday reaffirmed his wish to be let go by the Australian Rugby Union in order to start a new career with English club Gloucester.

The ARU, though, is standing firm and vowed to hold Paul to his contract, which runs until the end of 2007 - at least until the World Cup squad is named on July 24.

"Jeremy has a contract to the end of the year. Our policy has not changed at this stage," ARU general manager of high performance Pat Wilson said yesterday.

However, were Paul to miss out on selection to the World Cup squad and his status come up for a review by the ARU, there is still room for a compromise.

One solution would be for the union to release Paul from his contract on the proviso he would remain available for Wallabies selection in the event of any last-minute squad call-offs.

This could be done by including a clause covering the IRB law on player availability for the national side. The IRB's regulation 9 stipulates that all players must be available to play for their country if they are required to by their national union.

Paul said he would consider signing off on such a clause if it was included in an agreement of release from the ARU. "If that was a solution, I would be happy for that. That is part of the discussions we are having," Paul said.

"I don't want to leave on bad terms. And if this was a way, then I would be keen to discuss it. I have said all along that this is the path I want to take. And I want it to go smoothly and painlessly.

"I have had 10 good years here and I don't want to leave on bad terms. And I might one day want to come back and be a part of the ARU."

Paul said he was confident Gloucester would not oppose such a compromise as his contract with them does not start until November 1. "[The compromise] would give me time to move, settle in and get a solid pre-season base of training in," he said. "It wouldn't clash as I am not needed until November 1 anyhow."

Wallabies coach John Connolly is still adamant that Paul is in the frame for World Cup selection, saying the national team need four hookers for World Cup duty.

Connolly said three hookers were likely to be picked in the squad to travel to France while a fourth would be held on stand-by in Australia to train in a selected shadow squad and play in the Australian Rugby Championship.

"We have four or five hookers in the reckoning," Connolly said. "Jeremy is one of those. We could take three to the World Cup. That is probably the favoured position. There will be another who will train with a group here in case of injury."

One of the four hookers, Queensland Reds' Stephen Moore, is expected to be named today in the Wallabies starting XV to play Wales at Telstra Stadium on Saturday. Waratahs rake Adam Freier will be on the bench while the third-ranked hooker, Tatafu Polota-Nau - who yesterday resigned with the Waratahs for two more years - will play in the Australia A side named yesterday.

Australia A meet Tonga in their first Pacific Nations Cup fixture at Aussie Stadium on Friday night.

[Flat-top]

sorry this thread about JP is being hi-jacked by a discussion on the merits of seeding but I think the info put up by Andy is interesting, though while I support the premise of making the tests "more meaningful" I don't in truth think we would have a very different outcome by the time we are in the knock-out stages.

My logic:

In the actual 2007 groups I cannot see past the top two from each of the groups qualifying in first and second place, except of course for the Irish/French/Argies (any two of the three likely).

In the alternative groups as displayed by Andy once again the top two from each group are likely to be the qualifiers for the QF's.

The only difference between the options therefore is that Scotland would give up their place in this scenario and instead all three from the group of death would qualify.

Of course anything is possible but realistically we end up with the same 8 teams (or at leats 7 of them) whichever way the seeding is applied?

I know this posting will come back to haunt me in October when I have been proven wrong but I would wager a fair chunk of my V$'s that I won't be far off the mark.

[chook]

I wonder what JP feels about the seeding process? His comments would be welcome here I feel.

[Burgs]

I would suggest he may wish to stick your seeding and a Wallaby Rugby ball straight up a fundemental orrifice, somewhere near the heart of Camp Wallaby

Agreed FT, in the end the World Champ needs to be the best of the best and needs to win their last three matches to take out the title.
Some will have had an extra hard match to get there however in the end the Winner of the World Cup deserves the title.
That isn't to take away from what is behind the suggestion, ie making Test leading up more relevent, but perhaps a different form of encourgement needs to be found for that.
In reality there is only a couple of wins either way between fourth and twelth on the ladder, it's actually harder to move between first and third as will be seen in the Tri Nations once more this year.
Yet if Wales does manage one or two victories over the Wallabies they will rocket up the ladder.