‘Berzerk’ Japan rugby market a threat to Australia, warns Wallabies coach Dave Rennie
- Australia head coach David Rennie warns that players are being lured away from playing in Australia by the promise of big salaries offered by Japanese clubs
Cashed-up Japanese rugby clubs are going to lure more and more players away from Australia in the future and holding onto talent like Marika Koroibete is going to be a major struggle, according to Wallabies coach Dave Rennie.
A slew of established test players are already playing in Japan, including Wallabies captain Michael Hooper on a sabbatical, and impressive form in Super Rugby AU has only increased speculation that Koroibete will soon join them.
Agreeing that the winger had been in “phenomenal” form, Rennie said the “player drain” was a simple matter of economics and that Australia needed to make the lure of wearing the national team jersey a factor in such decisions.
“We’d love to keep him but that’s the challenges we face,” Rennie told reporters in Sydney.
“The Japan market is just going berserk, it’s not just the elite but some fringe guys and guys who would be battling away in Super Rugby over here can earn three or four times what they would be paid.
“That’s why we’ve got to make the Wallaby jersey something the guys are desperate to get.”
