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Personally I think this would be a big mistake and the thin edge of the wedge.
I hope the ARU hold the current line and let the current expansion and ARC development play its course. We had eighty eight men ready to play every full round of this years Super 14, don't tell them they are shit by bringing in foreign players, take responsability and develop them to the standard we need!
IF the policy is endorsed then PLEASE make it only for players who are in the process of gaining Australian eligability, so that they can play while they serve their time.
Push for foreign facelift
Rupert Guinness
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Australia's four Super 14 franchises will ask the national union to allow the recruitment of foreign players for next season.
The issue was raised at a two-day meeting of NSW, Queensland, ACT and Western Australia rugby chief executives in Sydney that ended on Tuesday.
All the provinces agreed to the "philosophy" of recruiting foreign players but need the Australian Rugby Union board to support the move.
ARU high performance manager Pat Wilson, who chaired the meeting, said he would present the ARU board with a case study to consider at its mid-June meeting.
"This is not the only thing we are looking at," Wilson said. "We have been talking about new laws, proposals to have more teams in the finals, and allowing foreign players. It is all about looking at ways we can rejuvenate the Super 14.
"But, no doubt, there is an appetite for the recruitment of foreign players."
Wilson said the proposal had been an item of discussion for some time.
But following a Super 14 season that saw no Australian side in the finals, NSW and Queensland finish a worst-ever 13th and 14th, and a drop in crowds, the feeling was that Australian rugby must soon open its doors to foreign players if it wanted to improve.
Such a move would help the provinces fill areas of weakness - such as in the props department, as the Reds discovered this year. It would also allow for the possible recruitment of marquee names, whose appearances would raise the potential for the franchises to market their fixtures.
"The general feeling is a positive one about it in philosophy, so long as it doesn't rob an Australian player of the same ability of an opportunity," NSW Rugby chief executive Fraser Neill said. "Where there is a lack of depth, a foreign player could fill it. But there would still be a responsibility to develop in those areas."
Neill said "business and commercial interests" required franchises to field the best possible teams to ensure entertaining fixtures, and this might well have to be achieved by looking beyond Australia for talent.
Such a policy would still require a cap on the number of foreign players to be recruited, said ACT Rugby chief executive Andrew Fagan.
"There would have to be a limited number of say one or two players per team," said Fagan, who believes the move could be introduced for next season.
"There is no time like the present; certainly as soon as possible. I don't see why we would have to wait until 2009 �c 2008 would be viable.
"Even if not every team took up the policy next year, it would allow those who need it to use it. It would also show that we have changed our policy when right now we are one of the few countries in the world not to allow foreigners to play."
The ARU showed an open mind to the policy this year by granting the Reds an exemption that allowed Kiwi prop Tama Tuirirangi to play for them when injuries left the team without enough home-grown props for a Super 14 standard scrum.
Tuirirangi, who played for the Hurricanes and Chiefs between 1999 and 2003, is now a resident of Australia. He had been living on the Gold Coast and playing club rugby until his sudden call-up in March by Reds coach Eddie Jones.
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Originally Posted by Flat-top
, certainly more interesting than what I should be doing right now.
