LESS THAN A WEEK after he was sent home from South Africa following a brawling bust-up with Melbourne Rebels teamate Cooper Vuna, Kurtley Beale is to take an indefinite break from rugby.
The Wallabies first-choice fullback met with officials from the Rebels, the Australia Rugby Union and players’ association representatives following the fracas in South Africa at the weekend.
The Rebels announced that a decision was reached where Beale will step away from the game to seek counselling.
Rebels chief executive, Steven Boland commented, “We have been working in conjunction with the ARU and RUPA over the past 48 hours to arrive at this position.
We sincerely hope that Kurtley will now embrace the assistance required to beat the issues that have been plaguing his life over the last period of time.
“We will fully support Kurtley through this process and hope that there is a time not far down the track when he can rejoin his teammates at the Rebels.”
Australia radio station Sky Sport spoke to Beale’s former teammate Adam Freier, now the Melbourne Rebels media manager.
He said, “The first thing to make sure is that he is okay and that he can get over whatever’s happening to him at the moment because it’s just not normal for the kid.” Freier added:
“It has to be alcohol, that is the big issue.
“I’m not saying he’s Robinson Crusoe, there’s a lot of people with the same issue in sport, but we need to address it properly.”
Reports are also circulating in Australia that several approaches for Beale’s services have been made by Rugby League sides.
The 24-year-old has been capped 36 times by the Wallabies and is the presumptive fullback starter for the three Test series against the British & Irish Lions this summer.
