Wallabies coach Michael Cheika "has backed mid-contract sabbaticals for Australia's top players to head off a feared post-World Cup exodus to Japan and Europe," according to Georgina Robinson of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Cheika said that "the experience of Wallabies winger Nick Cummins, who will return for the Western Force this year after a short stint in the Japanese Top League, would be replicated more often as the Australian Rugby Union gets real about its position in a cashed-up global market place." The news "is not all bad" for the Australian Rugby Union or the Waratahs. Test winger Rob Horne "has rejected a big money deal in Europe to stay in Australia for another two years in a deal expected to be announced in coming days." Horne "was courted heavily" by Irish club Munster but he has said no to the two-year deal worth up to A$800,000 ($633,000) and "is poised to recommit to NSW and the Wallabies." Western Force coach Michael Foley, who supported Cummins' decision to move to Japan, urged the ARU to "get it done" before more players feel their only option is to leave Australia for good. Foley: "We can't be slow and what we can't do is remove one set of hurdles and set up more hurdles. If we decide on sabbaticals, let's make sure those sabbaticals are relatively easy to do" (SMH, 1/28).
