World Rugby chairman Brett Robinson has admitted that the game's transfer system "doesn't have the teeth" to protect national bodies from foreign raids on promising players.
The former Wallabies flanker is the first Australian to hold global rugby's top job and told Wide World of Sports that he shared Rugby Australia's concerns over player poaching.
Strongman Queensland prop Massimo De Lutiis was the latest Aussie to be targeted by a rival union – with Ireland and Ulster seeking to take advantage of the 22-year-old qualifying for Ireland through his grandmother.
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Melbourne product Sione Tuipulotu is now captaining Scotland, Canberra's Mack Hansen is a star for Ireland, Louis Lynagh is lighting up the Six Nations for Italy and giant Emmanuel Meafou has long been locking powerful France scrums.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported there are currently 30 Australian players aged between 17 and 23 in French academies, including star NRL target Heinz Lemoto.
"World Rugby and I are very passionate about this issue and the importance of supporting the foundations of the game at a school, at a club, at a community level, and how that flows through into the system to support international rugby," Robinson told WWOS at the Hong Kong Sevens.
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"And we have to, as a game, be very respectful of that system because it underpins everything we do."
Robinson said he had held some "wonderful meetings" in February and March with the French Rugby Federation and the National Rugby League, which manages France's professional clubs.
"And (French chairman) Florian Grill absolutely believes it's a significant issue for us collectively to tackle, and the LNR (La Ligue Nationale de Rugby) actually understand it's an issue that we need to tackle together.
"So there's some open minds, and currently we are kicking off as a part of the new strategic planning process, the review of regulation 4 and 5. To investigate the mechanism, the friction costs, and how do we properly compensate for players that are developed in other countries.
"And probably the other bigger issue for us as a game is this ever increasing focus on underage athletes who are at school or school age, and those athletes being taken away from their families and to other countries.
"It's something that we all are collectively and ethically connected to… are well aware of, and as a part of our review, we're really now going to look to take those things head on."
The issue has been bubbling away for 12 months since RA chairman Daniel Herbert complained to World Rugby about cashed up French clubs poaching teenage talent after losing a battle for giant Reds forward Visesio Kite.
The 204cm, 147kg Kite starred for Queensland and Australia at under-16s level before opting to move to France in February to take up a contract with La Rochelle.
"Our view is that France has the ability to produce its own players. They don't need to come and talk to our player agents to try and poach ours at a very young age," Herbert said.
"A population of 70 million, without the major competition that we have in other markets, doesn't need to go to other markets to try and poach players. So it's a live discussion with World Rugby at the moment."
RA want World Rugby to beef up its rules in line with football's robust world transfer market.
"We do have a regulation. It's just that it doesn't really have the teeth that it needs to have to properly do what it'it's meant to achieve," Robinson said.
"So that's something that everyone acknowledges, and we are – through Yvonne Nolan, who is our chief regulatory officer at World Rugby _ we're kicking off a project which Rugby Australia will be in the middle of. So tell Herbie (Herbert) it's on the agenda."
Sam Worthington travelled to the 2026 Hong Kong Sevens thanks to the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Cathay Pacific
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