Rocky Elsom's on his way back to Wallabies ahead of Tri-Nations
By Wayne Smith
February 28, 2009
The Wallabies' hopes of winning the Tri-Nations series for the first time since 2001 have been given a massive boost by the news that Rocky Elsom will return to Australia in late May.
Speaking from Dublin, where he has lit up the Magners League and Heineken Cup with six man-of-the-match performances in his past dozen outings for Leinster, Elsom declared himself fit and available to resume his 40-Test career for Australia.
"If they want me, I'm available," Elsom told The Weekend Australian.
Australian Rugby Union officials were delighted when told of Elsom's decision, which almost certainly will make him the first player in the 14-year history of professional rugby to be selected for the Wallabies in the Bundaberg Rum and Tri-Nations series without having played in the preceding Super 12/14 competition.
However, the ARU is adamant Elsom's case will not create a loophole that will allow Australia's top players to take sabbaticals in Europe or Japan and be selected for the Wallabies from there.
Although there is no official policy in place that stipulates a player must have turned out in the Super 14 to be selected for Australia, the ARU does specify that no overseas-based player will be considered for the Wallabies.
"You need to have an Australian contract and if Rocky comes back and signs a contract with the ARU, he will be considered," an ARU spokesman said.
It may well be that Elsom exercises the option taken over the past year by Matt Giteau and Stephen Moore, of signing on with the ARU but leaving his options open as to which Super 14 franchise he will join.
Although he has been one of the mainstays of the New South Wales Waratahs since 2003, Elsom revealed he had been talking to the Queensland Reds chief contract negotiator Ben Whitaker, his former manager in the Australian Under-21 side.
"He gave me a scathing report on the 2004 trip to Scotland when I only played half a game because of a hamstring injury, but I've almost forgiven him," Elsom joked.
Whitaker was delighted to hear that, raising his hopes that the 26-year-old backrower might yet return to Brisbane, where his girlfriend attends university.
The Reds contract manager is the older brother of long-time Waratahs captain Chris Whitaker, now Elsom's teammate at Leinster. That sets up the intriguing possibility of the Whitaker brothers engaging in a tug-of-war over which state will secure Elsom's services.
Certainly the Waratahs would be desperate to reclaim the only Australian forward who could command a place in a World XV - and who indeed was recently selected as the No.6 in the NZ Herald's world team.
NSW would be doubly desperate to lure him back as a possible 2010 captain in the event of Phil Waugh opting to go overseas if his continuing contract renegotiations turn sour.
"I'm sure Leinster would love to have Phil in a straight swap for me," Elsom said.
"But I'm hoping Phil doesn't leave. It's important to be a good leader, and Phil is that. But sometimes it's even more important that people think you're a good leader, so that when you say something, there's no debate. And Phil is that as well.
"There are obviously good players at NSW and you could replace him with someone else, but whether they would have the same effect as Phil, I just don't know.
"I think people should keep in mind the 2007 season when Phil was out injured (and the Waratahs finished second-last). They don't want to go there again."
Leinster is placed second in the Magners League and is one of eight surviving teams in the European tournament, the Heineken Cup.
That means his northern hemisphere season would finish on May 17 or 24, which would leave him enough time to be involved in the build-up to the Wallabies' first outing of the season, against the Barbarians in Sydney on June 6.
Elsom last spoke to Wallabies coach Robbie Deans in November, when Deans invited him to the Australia-Barbarians match at Wembley, an invitation he was unable to accept because of Leinster commitments.
"But we had a bit of a chat before I left Australia and we seem to be on the same page," Elsom said.
Elsom started in eight of Australia's nine domestic Tests last year, missing only the Bledisloe Cup defeat in Auckland after being injured the previous week when he scored a try in the Wallabies' stunning 34-10 win over the All Blacks.
He made himself available for the spring tour in November, but because he was then based in Ireland he was not considered. In his absence, Hugh McMeniman and Dean Mumm shared the Test duties at blindside flanker, but neither could be said to have locked Elsom out of the position.[/b]
