The International Rugby Board (IRB) on Tuesday said it was ”deeply concerned” about clubs pressuring players to miss the World Cup and will meet to discuss the problem.
The International Rugby Board has been faced with mounting calls to act over the club vs country row, with Samoa, Fiji and Georgia all weakened by players opting to stay with their clubs rather than play in Australia.
Chris Rea, head of IRB communications, said on Tuesday the issue would be discussed by officials during the World Cup, which kicks off in Sydney on October 10.
”The [IRB] council will be meeting during the World Cup and these will all be issues that will certainly be discussed,” Rea said on Tuesday.
”We all are very deeply concerned that there is a problem with the release of the best players.”
Samoa coach John Boe has been hardest hit, losing key forwards Trevor Leota and Henry Tuilagi who both say they cannot afford to give up their contracts with their English clubs.
”We get lots of sympathy but, unfortunately, that’s as far as it goes,” Boe said this week.
”No one seems prepared to do anything practical to prevent this happening.”
Scotland coach Ian McGeechan on Tuesday called on the IRB to act boldly to resolve the dilemma.
”The IRB will have to get hold of the thing,” McGeechan said upon the team’s arrival in Sydney for the World Cup.
”Either international rugby does take precedence or it doesn’t, either the World Cup takes precedence or it doesn’t.”
Last week the IRB called on aggrieved countries to contact formally the head body if they believed an IRB regulation had been breached.
Rea said the IRB had only been officially notified of two cases — one involving two Fijian players who announced they had retired from international rugby and another involving Georgians playing for French teams.
”If those players decide they don’t wish to play for whatever reason there’s a limit to how far we are able to go,” Rea said.
IRB chief executive Mike Miller, at the opening ceremony for the World Cup media centre, on Tuesday refused to answer questions on the issue.
Rea, while saying the issue had been ”dealt with” for this World Cup, admitted there were concerns which the IRB eventually had to address.
”It is not a question of not being interested, far from it,” Rea said.
”There is grave concern but … we can only do what we are empowered to do.
”To portray the board as uncaring could not be further from the truth — there is an issue, there is a concern — and we all hope, those of us who have the good of the global game at heart, that the board takes it up very robustly.”
He said players who opted out of national duty would not be eligible for club matches during the World Cup.
”Very severe sanctions” would be applied to clubs if those selection rules were ignored, he added.
Rea acknowledged that a solution could be to create periods when international rugby did not clash with club competitions.
”That’s a very good idea but you would need to ask individual unions about that — somewhere teams are going to have stop playing.”
Providing prize money for the World Cup or paying the players appearance fees — rather than offering participation fees to the competing nations — has also been suggested as an answer.
”We are proactive in the money we spend — providing participation fees and providing funding — but it’s just not possible to pay every player individually to come to the World Cup,” Rea said.
”The board has done as much it can to assure the release of the best players.” — Sapa-AFP