Rugby Australia has responded to an exodus of major talent offshore by declaring the prohibitive Giteau Law is “redundant”.

While coach Joe Schmidt remains likely to favour Australian-based players, RA’s high performance director Peter Horne said the coach can pick whoever he wants for The Rugby Championship and northern hemisphere Tests.

Will Skelton was the only overseas player chosen to face the British and Irish Lions, but the playing stocks will thin out further with players such as Taniela Tupou, third Test player of the match Tom Hooper, and Langi Gleeson among those heading overseas soon.

The Giteau Law has undergone several iterations since it was first implemented before the 2015 World Cup.

In an interview with The Roar last year, RA chairman Daniel Herbert revealed that RA’s policy has been shaped by an agreement with their long-time Super Rugby partner New Zealand Rugby to not “go lock, stock and barrel” by choosing too many players from overseas.

The Giteau Law initially required a minimum of 60 Tests for Australia and seven years in Super Rugby. It was then lowered to 30 Tests and five years in Super Rugby.

Taniela Tupou of the Wallabies looks on ahead of their Rugby World Cup France 2023 match against Fiji at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on September 16, 2023 in Saint-Etienne, France. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

In reality, the rubbery Giteau Law was dead and buried in 2023 when Eddie Jones picked Richie Arnold from Toulouse – although Herbert later said there was a one Test minimum requirement.

On Tuesday, Horne made it clear Australia had moved on completely from the eligibility laws.

“We’re pretty open, Joe’s got no impediment to select whoever he wants,” Horne told reporters.

“That’s always been the case. If he wants to select someone, he’s entitled.

“The Giteau Law, that’s kind of redundant.

“The reality is if he wants to pick Josh Kemeny from Northampton, that’s his call.

“But we’ve also made a choice that we select domestically because if the player’s equal, or of that calibre, it’s important that we invest in our premier competition in Australia. And then there’s an opportunity to go out and develop.

“We’ve selected, I think, three overseas-based players in the last 12 months, from Samu Kerevi to Marika Koroibete to Will (Skelton).

“There’s no impediment for Joe to select abroad. It hasn’t been from the start. The board have been very supportive.

“But I think what we’ve been able to do is actually start to grow and develop a base of players in Australia that are actually able to compete, and it’s been really positive.

“And we’ll continue to invest in domestic-based players and invest in pathways to create more talent that’s going to cut through into the back of Super and create more pressure and internal competition in those squads as well.”

N (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)

RA CEO Phil Waugh shared the press conference with Horne.

“Cohesion’s critically important,” said Waugh.

“As we’ve seen with performances across Super level and Test rugby, and so I think being quite overt around the fact that our preference is to pick players who are based locally, and there’s always the option where there’s a material difference between what we have locally and what’s available playing offshore.

“Clearly, our geography makes it a little bit more challenging than other unions that our position gets compared to.

“We’ve got a very open mind, but we certainly want to keep as many of our top-line players in Australia as we can.”

Meanwhile, Waugh declared the Lions tour a success for RA and the Wallabies.

“We saw on the field, they got one point better than us and one try better than us and it was a really fierce Test battle,” Waugh said.

“Any of that speculation was shut down by a number of people, including their CEO, who spoke at various events committing to returning to Australia.

“It would have been been nice to win the series, but if you look at the nine games across the country, the record (MCG) crowd, sold-out stadiums … both in Rugby Australia but more broadly into the economy, it’s been very successful off the field.

“And then we’ve seen the progress of the Wallabies group.

“It’s been an overwhelmingly successful tour – it would have been nice to obviously win the trophy, but that wasn’t to happen.”

RA was predicted to pocket more than $100 million from the tour, which will help clear the $60 million they’ve already spent from an $80 million loan taken out to safeguard the code.

Waugh said while the figures were still being finalised, they had “exceeded expectations”.

“We’re working through how the funds are flowing through on the back of the tour now but it’s certainly exceeded expectations,” the former Test flanker said.

“It’s been a good opportunity for us to reset the balance sheet and being quite overt and transparent around the fact that we’ve got the debt facility and ideally we pay that down as quickly as possible given the cost to carry it. 

“We’re still planning to reset the balance sheet, clear the debt position and then lean into the next broadcast cycle to get to a financially sustainable model.”

(With AAP)