Another French Side Are Upset With Michael Cheika & Australia

Mourad Boudjellal made his feelings very public last week regarding the selection of Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell by Michael Cheika for the upcoming Rugby Championship.

The Toulon owner was not happy to learn that he will be without two of his best players for the opening eight rounds of the Top 14 championship. Giteau has been punished as a result and will be docked wages as a result of his inclusion for the second time in less than a year, the first time coming at last year’s Rugby World Cup which saw him docked over €250,000.

The latest team to be frustrated with the ARU are fellow Top 14 side, Bordeaux-Bègles. Their president, Laurent Marti is unimpressed with the Australian Rugby Union over Adam Ashley-Cooper and Sekope Kepu.

Ashley-Cooper was called up by the Wallabies last week ahead of the Rugby Championship, with the 32-year-old looking to add to his 114 Test caps. Marti however was under the impression that Ashley-Cooper would cease playing for the Wallabies when he signed for UBB following the Rugby World Cup last year.

“Yes, I’m annoyed. Adam had told me that he would stop playing for the national side. He had the power to say no to his coach and his federation… he should have told me when we were carrying out our negotiations,” Marti told Sud-Ouest.

Ashley-Cooper’s contract at the club runs until 2018 but one Wallaby has already ended his time with the club, with Sekope Kepu returning to Australia to re-join the Waratahs after the end of the Top 14 season, one year into this three-year deal.

Marti expressed his frustration with the way the situation had been handled by the ARU.

“I’m mad at the ARU,” he said.

“We released Kepu when he still had two years remaining on his contract. We haven’t made a fuss about it, or demanded any compensation. They were not very graceful.”