{"id":718053,"date":"2026-06-06T01:29:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718053\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T01:29:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T01:29:22","slug":"how-french-rugby-will-be-paying-to-develop-the-next-generation-of-wallabies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718053\/","title":{"rendered":"How French rugby will be paying to develop the next generation of Wallabies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PaulSave<\/p>\n

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Young Australian prop Lehopa Leota looks like he was built out of Lego blocks by someone trying to construct the perfect prop.<\/p>\n

Even before the Herald broke the news<\/a> that the Junior Wallabies plan to pick the France-based Leota, pictures of the 130kg unit on social media caught the eye.<\/p>\n

\"LehopaLehopa Leota, who plays for Racing 92 in France.Instagram<\/p>\n

He looks like a baby Ben Tameifuna, the New Zealander, who has also played for Tonga, and who just won another Champions Cup with Bordeaux.<\/p>\n

Leota\u2019s calves are about the same size as his chest. No wonder Racing 92 wanted him. It\u2019s probably no coincidence that Tameifuna played more than 100 times for the Paris club.<\/p>\n

If Rugby Australia picks Leota in its under-20s team for the Junior World Championship in Georgia in June and July, it will signify a change in eligibility policy that was no doubt taken seriously.<\/p>\n

But the market has been so distorted recently by French raids on young Australians of Pasifika heritage that RA could not afford to stand still.<\/p>\n

In fact, while the selection of Leota and fellow France-based prop Hayden Lavercombe could be explained as a way to strengthen the Junior Wallabies\u2019 set-piece, it looks like another chess move in the niggle between Australian rugby and the French that has been building for years.<\/p>\n

\"MarikaMarika Koroibete was sent off for this tackle on French flanker Anthony Jelonch in 2021.Getty Images<\/p>\n

French flanker Anthony Jelonch\u2019s play-acting to get Marika Koroibete sent off in Brisbane in 2021<\/a>, the dispute over the Wallabies\u2019 fee for a pre-Rugby World Cup Test against France and, lately, the French clubs\u2019 raids on young Australian players<\/a>: they all impact the relationship, from merely annoyance (Jelonch) to a fundamental threat to the game in Australia (the raids).<\/p>\n

RA chairman Daniel Herbert has not been afraid to speak out against the French.<\/p>\n

By picking Leota and Lavercombe, RA is effectively saying they intend to eventually pick these youngsters for the Wallabies, while the French cover the costs of their development.<\/p>\n

There is a complication: the Junior Wallabies are not the designated \u201ccapture\u201d team for Wallabies eligibility; that role has been transferred to the Australia A outfit.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Zealand-born, Australian-raised French international Emmanuel Meafou on the charge against Wales in a Six Nations match in Cardiff in 2024.Getty Images<\/p>\n

So, if Leota and Lavercombe are selected for the under-20s team, it doesn\u2019t lock them into the Wallabies and prevent them from eventually representing France, like Emmanuel Meafou<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the risk RA is taking, although it is probably one worth pursuing if selecting Leota and Lavercombe is part of a courtship ultimately designed to get them back to Australia.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s the case, the outcome is the same for RA regardless of players such as Leota, Lavercombe and talented young flanker Heinz Lemoto being \u201ccaptured\u201d by the Junior Wallabies or not: they all represent the Wallabies at Test level, not France.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see how the French respond to RA\u2019s move. French clubs target overseas players at a young age because they can be classified as non-foreigners after three years in the clubs\u2019 academies.<\/p>\n

\"RelationsRelations between Australian and French rugby is strained. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The rule was introduced to strengthen the French national team by increasing the number of \u201clocal\u201d players available to their national coach, but sport being sport, it has had a range of different consequences.<\/p>\n

One of those has been to drive the recruitment of players from overseas at a younger age, which is why French rugby, and not the NRL, has become RA\u2019s greatest threat for school-age players.<\/p>\n

Rugby-specific players such as Leota hold no interest for the NRL, especially since the six again rules push the game towards touch footy territory. But in rugby they can win titles and Tests.<\/p>\n

Of course, there is a way to avoid this tug of war between RA and France. If Australian rugby\u2019s talent ID was elite, Leota and others would have been identified and perhaps even invited to Springboks-style alignment camps, where under-20s standouts rub shoulders with Test stars.<\/p>\n

But there are two things here to note.<\/p>\n

First, talent ID in this age group is hit-and-miss \u2013 it would be difficult to commit to one 18-year-old prop over another with a high degree of confidence.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Joe<\/a><\/p>\n

Second, even if RA made every correct decision about who to keep in the country, where are the resources and the actual competitions for this player between, say, the ages of 18 and 22?<\/p>\n

By contrast, French Top 14 clubs have big squads, offer many opportunities and embrace a scrummaging culture from which Leota and Lavercombe will benefit.<\/p>\n

The issue is not young Australians leaving for France per se, but the underlying fear that once they go they won\u2019t return.<\/p>\n

But by picking the young props for the Junior Wallabies, RA is at least keeping alive the prospect that they receive paid schooling in the dark arts in France and then return to strengthen Australia in their early 20s.<\/p>\n

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\"PaulPaul Cully<\/a> is a rugby columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-718053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}