IN SPITE OF speculation suggesting that the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) will look to bring Kane Douglas home, Matt O’Connor says he won’t be leaving Leinster.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, ‘a push has begun to try and lure second rower Kane Douglas back to Australia from Ireland in time to play for the Wallabies in the World Cup’.
Douglas is still in the first season of a three-year contract with Leinster, and O’Connor ruled out the possibility of an early release for the 25-year-old this morning.
The Leinster head coach also said it’s ‘incredibly unlikely’ that the ARU would divert from policy and select a player not playing in Australia.
“World Rugby regulations are that if selected by your national team in international windows, the club has to release guys to play. That hasn’t changed,” said O’Connor when asked about the 14-times capped Wallaby.
“But the policy the ARU are running with is that guys who aren’t playing Super Rugby and aren’t on Super Rugby contracts aren’t permitted to play for Australia.
“Unless they change their policy, Kane will be with us. He’ll be with us for the next couple of seasons and certainly the World Cup, which will be really important for us.
“If they did change the regulations, which is incredibly unlikely, he would play, he would be selected and we’d crack on as usual. It’s a situation we had with Zane Kirchner last year. If he’s selected to play for his nation, there’s nothing we can do.
“The exemption and changing of ARU policy has massive ramifications for Super Rugby and the game in Australia. I can’t see it happening.”
Meanwhile, there’s some good news on the injury front for Leinster, with Rhys Ruddock, Fergus McFadden and Ben Te’o all in contention to play in Sunday’s Pro12 meeting with the Dragons at the RDS (3.00pm).
Ruddock has been out of action since breaking his arm against Harlequins in December, McFadden sustained rib damage in the Wolfhounds’ recent loss to England Saxons, and Te’o has been struggling with rib and neck problems for the past five weeks.
All three trained this week, and O’Connor is also expecting to have some of Leinster’s Ireland contingent available this weekend depending on who’s required by Joe Schmidt for Saturday’s Six Nations game against France.
“We’ll be hopeful to get a couple of guys who need to play,” said O’Connor. “We’ll try and juggle that relative to our preparation this week and fit those guys in. We’re training tomorrow and Saturday so there’s a window for it.”
