Jeremy Paul Set To Quit Australia

Wallaby hooker Jeremy Paul is contemplating
quitting Australian rugby at the end of the year to chase a lucrative playing deal in Europe.

The wife of the 27-year-old ACT Brumbies’ hooker has an English
passport
making Paul, who has played 44 Tests, an even more attractive
prospect for
rich English clubs because he won’t be included in their import quota.

Saracens, where his former ACT teammate and close friend Rod Kafer
is
coach, is a strong option.

Wallaby coach Eddie Jones said Paul, rated one of the most gifted
hookers
in world rugby despite being number two behind Brendan Cannon in the
national
team, remained important to Australian rugby.
“If he doesn’t want to play in Australia then that’s a
decision he makes. I
know he’s been offered a very good contract that would keep him in
Australia,”
Jones said on Tuesday.

“We want him to stay in Australia, we’d like him to, but
ultimately he’s
got to do what he feels is right for his career.”

Paul said he planned to make a decision on his playing future in
the next
month.
“I just have to weigh up where I’m at in my career and I’ve
been doing that
for the last four to six weeks,” Paul said.

“Once I got married at the end of last year, my personal
ambition as a
rugby player definitely changed, you’re not playing for yourself
anymore,
you’re looking after your family.”

He said the attraction of playing in Europe was the ability for
the couple
to travel and “have some fun”.

His ACT teammates and fellow Wallabies Joe Roff and David Giffin
have
already announced Saturday’s Super 12 final against the Crusaders
will be
their last for the Brumbies and Paul admitted it would be a good way
to bow
out.
“I suppose a lot of people have been saying it’s a good way
to finish …
to finish on a high with the guys we’ve been playing with would be
great,” he
said.

Former Test prop Andrew Blades has been appointed Wallabies’ new forwards coach, national coach
Jones announced today.

Jones said Blades had the background and skills to step up as an
assistant
coach after previous coaching spells with Australia’s under-21 team,
the ACT
Brumbies and Newcastle Falcons in England.

Blades has replaced Ewen McKenzie, who left the Wallabies after
last year’s
World Cup to become head coach at the NSW Waratahs.
“We’re very lucky to have Bladesy, he was obviously a very
good player for
the Wallabies, did some coaching with the Brumbies and had two years
as a
professional coach in Newcastle,” Jones told reporters.

“So he brings a lot of expertise to the coaching team and the
team in
general.”

Jones said a decision on the backs coach of the national team will
be made
in the next few weeks.

Narbonne’s Argentine
international
back rower Gonzalo Longo and hooker Brice Miguel have signed for two
seasons
with top flight French rugby union outfit Montferrand.

The contract for 28-year-old Longo can be extended for a further
year.

New Zealand-born French international centre Tony Marsh will stay
with
Montferrand for a third season, with negotiations ongoing for a
further
extension until 2006, the club added.

AFP – 2004.