Wallabies Stung by Beale WASPS Deal

Kurtley Beale has reportedly signed a deal with Wasps which will make him the highest paid player in England. Reports in The Times in London indicate Beale will become the biggest earner in English rugby after agreeing to a deal worth $A2.96 m (£1.5m).

The two-year deal, starting from next season, looms is a major blow for Australian rugby, with the 27-year-old utility back one of the country’s most exciting players. He has been in sparkling form for the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby this season.

However, Beale’s 60 Test caps do mean he will be eligible to return and play for the Wallabies while playing club rugby abroad. Beale could be joined in England next season by fellow Wallaby back Quade Cooper, with a number of English club reportedly interested in the mercurial five-eighth, who has been out of favour at French club Toulon.

Waratahs captain Michael Hooper admits Beale will be impossible to replace, with his departure a massive blow for the 2014 Super Rugby champions. “You can’t replace Kurtley Beale,” Hooper said before the Waratahs’ captain’s run on Friday. “You get something different and that’s with rugby what we’ll be chasing.”

Hooper said he was gutted at the news, which caught him by surprise on Friday. “I’m happy for him as an individual. The ability to make those decisions is all part of rugby but, for me, selfishly it’s probably disappointing,” he said. “I love playing with Kurtley. I love having him in the environment here in the team but hopefully I’ll be able to play with him a lot more in the future.”

Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson was still holding out hope that the 27-year-old would stay in Sydney. “It’s unconfirmed,” he said. “Obviously for Kurtley it’s a big decision. He’s got to decide between staying in Australia and a really supportive environment or going overseas and playing his rugby over there. For us, we’d love him to stay. That hasn’t changed.”

“He’s been playing spectacularly well and I’m sure in his own mind he knows that it’s going to be a difficult decision for him. The fact the sun is shining, it’s a beautiful blue day here and he’s enjoying his rugby and, I guess for him, those decisions will weigh heavily on him.”

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Wallabies Kurtley May Beale with Wasps

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Kurtley Beale is reportedly set to sign a record two-year deal worth A$2.7 million (Australian dollars) with the London Wasps, according to reports in the Daily Mail.

Such a deal is unlikely to be matched by the Australian Rugby Union even if Beale enters into a flexible deal which allows him to play in Japan.

It would make the Waratahs and Wallabies inside centre the highest-paid player in the English premiership, and the equal-highest paid Australian abroad along with Matt Giteau at Toulon.

Crucially, the 27-year-old – who has a troubled disciplinary record – would still be able to play for the Wallabies given he has now played 60 Tests for Australia.

The Wasps director of rugby Dai Young, while unwilling to discuss specific transfer negotiations, said: “You’ve got to do your own due diligence.

“You certainly don’t want to bring anyone into this environment who’s going to upset the apple cart with the players.

“I certainly don’t want to bring anyone here who won’t maintain the standards of what we expect of Wasps players and staff. I take my responsibilities very seriously on that.

“A lot of people make mistakes, and I’m sure me and you have made a few when we were younger. Some are more documented than others.

“But I’m confident anybody I bring into this environment I’ve done my homework on. What they’ve done in the past is the past.

“But I’m confident that any player who is in this environment will not reflect poorly on Wasps.”

Should Beale arrive, he will team up with the former England fly-half Danny Cipriani who will return to his first club from Sale next season.

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Cipriani Summer Sale to Young Wasps

Danny Cipriani will leave Sale Sharks and return to his first club Wasps this summer. The 28-year-old had a season left to run on his existing Sale deal, but has chosen to exercise a break clause and return to Wasps, where he made his name, on a two-year contract.

Cipriani left Wasps for the Australian Super Rugby franchise Melbourne Rebels in 2011, but returned to England to join Sale a year later.

The 14-cap England fly-half rejected triple European champions Toulon to sign a contract extension at Sale in February 2015, but will now leave the club a year early this summer

“I’m excited about returning to Wasps next season. It really does feel like coming home,” said Cipriani. “In the professional era, players naturally move clubs more frequently than they used to, but I still feel such a strong connection with Wasps.

“It’s where I learned my trade, alongside incredible players like Lawrence Dallaglio, Joe Worsley, Alex King, Fraser Waters, Josh Lewsey and Paul Sackey. I have such good memories of that period in my life, I feel much more equipped to handle and deal with the expectation that comes when you put on the black and gold jersey

“I feel next season will be the right time for a new challenge, at a club which in my heart will always feel like a second home, where I know I will settle quickly.”

Cipriani broke through at Wasps in 2006 after impressing at England age-grade level, only to court controversy. The England head coach Brian Ashton dropped Cipriani two days before his Test debut in the 2008 Six Nations, after the then 20-year-old was spotted in a nightclub. He eventually made his Test bow later in that campaign.

Though he recovered from a nasty fracture-dislocation of his right ankle to regain his Test spot in the autumn of 2008, he then slipped out of the England picture for six years. A string of disciplinary run-ins and his move to Melbourne left Cipriani out of the Test picture, before he set about rebuilding his reputation at Sale.

Despite being hit by a bus on a night out in Leeds in April 2013, Cipriani was able to fulfil his ambition of returning to England colours. 

Stuart Lancaster took Cipriani on the summer tour to New Zealand in 2014, with the Sale star pushing hard for a regular berth. He featured in the 2015 Six Nations and World Cup warm-up matches, but was omitted from England’s final squad for the autumn’s global showdown.

Wasps won two Heineken Cups, Cipriani featuring in the 2007 European triumph, before the club slipped close to administration. The owner Derek Richardson has guided Wasps to financial security through the Coventry switch, however, leaving Cipriani impressed.

“It’s brilliant to see how the club has rebuilt over the past couple of seasons,” said the fly-half. “The potential of the squad that Dai [Young] has developed is really exciting and I have been impressed by the ambition Wasps have shown since Derek Richardson took over and stabilised things.

“I’m really looking forward to playing alongside guys I started my career with, like James Haskell, Joe Simpson, Christian Wade and Elliot Daly, in a squad that loves to play attacking, expansive rugby.”

Young said he was delighted to be able to bring Cipriani back to Wasps. “We have always been keen for Danny to return to Wasps; everyone knows how talented a player he is and how much his game has developed since he made such an impact for England at a young age.

“As well as his obvious attacking attributes, Danny has matured as a player and controls the game well as a 10.”

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Leinster Badly Stung by Wasps

Wasps recorded an emphatic 33-6 Champions Cup win over Leinster at the RDS Arena.

Charles Piutau was named man of the match for his defensive performance as well as his counter-attacking in the No 15 jersey, and though the All Black scored a try in the final minute, it was tries from Christian Wade and Joe Simpson that set up a vital win away from home for Wasps in what is a difficult Champions Cup group.

The boot of Ruaridh Jackson was worth 13 points while a pair of penalties from Jonny Sexton were the only points scored by the home side as they failed to ignite much attack in front of their home fans.

It was Wasps who opened the scoring in Dublin. Jack McGrath, preferred to Cian Healy in the No 1 jersey, was penalised at an early scrum and Jackson stepped up to hand his side the lead from the tee.

His effort was cancelled out by Sexton in the ninth minute, after Wasps strayed offside during a dangerous attack from Leinster on the back of a poor clearance kick from Elliot Daly.

Sexton missed an opportunity to give the hosts the lead moments later when Carlo Festuccia failed to roll away at the ruck, with the Irish fly-half unable to overcome the heavy wind as he sent it right.

Festuccia gave the Leinster No 10 another chance when he once again infringed at the breakdown, and at the second time of calling Sexton sent it through the uprights before Jackson drew his side level at the end of the first quarter.

Wasps then threatened down the left touchline thanks to deft work from Piuatu, and though the visitors were unable to score a try, he took a long-range kick at goal to make it 9-6 to Wasps after Daly was taken high in the tackle.

A clever box kick from Simpson and a good chase from Wade then brought about the first try of the game.

The kick went in behind Dave Kearney who was left flailing by the second bounce, and on the third bounce Wade plucked it from above a grounded Kearney to cross for an easy score and a 10-point lead for his side to take into the break.

Simpson got the scoring under way in the second half when a break from Frank Halai put the scrum-half into space behind the Leinster defence, and he raced away for the try and a 23-6 lead following the conversion.

The Wasps' defence held off any attempts from Leinster to fight their way back into the game, and the match was ended as a contest when Wasps' scrum dominance led to a penalty and Daly lined up a long-range kick at goal.

The centre left it short, but there was a knock-on when Leinster tried to collect the ball before Kearney made the ill-advised decision to play the ball from an offside position which resulted in a penalty under his side's poles.

Jackson placed the ball on the tee and slotted a regulation kick before Piutau rounded off the victory with a try in the corner with seconds remaining for an important win as Leinster fell to just their third defeat in 15 European pool games.

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Stephen Jones Prefers Wasps

Head coach Nigel Davies says veteran fly-half Stephen Jones turned down a potential Scarlets coaching role to join London Wasps.

Jones, 34, has signed a two-year deal to play for the Aviva Premiership club.

Davies said: "I said that we could look to find an opportunity for him in the coaching set-up here. But Steve was adamant that he wanted to play."

He added that Wasps's offer to Jones, Wales' most capped player, was "probably too good to turn down".

"He has never shied away from a challenge and at his age, I think a new challenge is exactly what he would need if he's going to continue playing," said Davies.

"Se he'll see it as a big challenge and want to prove himself in that league and I'm sure that's what he'll do."

Jones is out of contract at Parc Y Scarlets at the end of the season and agreed to join Wasps despite an "imminent takeover" of the Premiership outfit having fallen through.

Jones, who won six Lions Test caps on the tour of New Zealand in 2005 and South Africa in 2009, was part of Warren Gatland's 2012 Grand Slam squad, but failed to make an appearance.

He is being signed by the English club on a player's contract but his move to High Wycombe to join up with former Blues coach, David Young, could see him move into a coaching role at the end of the two-year stint as a player.

Jones has never played in the Premiership but enjoyed a successful two-year-stint playing for Clermont Auvergne in France. He returned to the Scarlets in 2006.

London Wasps released a statement on Tuesday claiming they were seeking new backers after interest from four parties had stalled.