The Waratahs will not be allowed to replace Kurtley Beale on their roster while the Wallaby fights sexual assault charges over coming months.
Beale has been stood down on full pay from all forms of rugby after being charged with the sexual assault of a woman in a Bondi hotel in the early hours of December 17. His lawyer said Beale would plead not guilty and fight to clear his name.
The Waratahs have been denied a request to draft in a replacement for Kurtley Beale, who has stood down while he fights sexual assault charges. Credit:Getty
With the case expected to drag on for most of the year, the Waratahs are resigned to losing Beale for the season but were disappointed to learn they would not be able to draft in a replacement for the 95-Test back.
He is essentially on rugby’s version of the NRL’s no-fault stand-down, but under the code’s new collective bargaining agreement between the players and Rugby Australia, the Waratahs are not allowed to replace him unless they can squeeze an extra player in under the existing salary cap and squad size rules.
With no wriggle room on either of those fronts, the club sought an exemption, but RA knocked them back.
Birthday boy: Eddie Jones starts work as Wallabies coach on his 63rd birthday.
Even injury cover rules have changed. Last year the club signed Wales and British and Irish Lions centre Jamie Roberts on an injury cover contract, when young centre Joey Walton injured a knee in pre-season. Under the new agreement, a squad must have two injuries in the same position to sign a new player.
The new rules have left the Waratahs in limbo, with Beale afforded the presumption of innocence and a code of conduct process suspended until the court case is resolved, but the team punished nevertheless.
Meanwhile, new Wallabies coach Eddie Jones celebrated his first full day in the job with a sprinkles-covered cake, a suit fitting, new car, staff briefings and an entourage of cameras for a rumoured documentary in the works about his return to Australian rugby.
The Stan cameras shadowed him at the Sydney Sevens and will be documenting key moments of Jones’s return. They were not privy to a lighthearted moment at RA’s Moore Park headquarters on Monday, when staff serenaded Jones in front of a personalised cake to mark his 63rd birthday.
He was picked up by Wallabies team manager Chris Webb, who has worked with Jones before, for his first full day on the job. The new Wallabies boss went to a suit fitting with team sponsor MJ Bale, took receipt of a new Land Rover (another sponsored product) and a change of pace from the RFU-issue Lexus he drove in England.
It was a soft re-entry to the union that “divorced” Jones in 2005, eventually driving him overseas to make his name as one of the world’s best and most demanding coaches.
But RA chair Hamish McLennan, the man who single-handedly brokered the reconciliation, made it clear Australia’s standards would be as high as Jones’, telling the Herald: “Eddie’s priorities are the Wallaroos and the Wallabies and winning”.
Jones is expected to meet with senior assistant coach Dan McKellar in coming days and name a new attack coach to replace Scott Wisemantel.
He will also continue combing through lists of players here and abroad and is expected to get involved with contracting discussions immediately.
High on that list will be top Wallabies Samu Kerevi and Taniela Tupou, both of whom are off contract this year.
Watch all the action from the Six Nations with every match streaming ad-free, live and exclusive on Stan Sport. Round 1 kicks off this Sunday 5 February, with Wales v Ireland (1:05am AEDT), England v Scotland (3:35am AEDT) and Italy v France (1:50am AEDT).
