{"id":352458,"date":"2023-12-07T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=352458"},"modified":"2023-12-08T01:03:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T01:03:33","slug":"rugbys-selling-points-not-enough-to-tackle-nrl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=352458","title":{"rendered":"Rugby's selling points 'not enough' to tackle NRL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby's most highly coveted contests are no longer enough to sway union players from defecting to league, says former Wallaby<\/a> Morgan Turinui.<\/p>\n

Mark Nawaqanitawase's decision to ditch Rugby Australia<\/a> and the Waratahs<\/a> for a contract with the Roosters<\/a> has rocked the sport.<\/p>\n

The up-and-coming winger quickly became a staple of the Wallabies squad between Dave Rennie<\/a> and Eddie Jones<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watch the World Rugby Sevens on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> Every round exclusive, ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\ufeff<\/p>\n

Come 2025, he'll look to ply his trade in rugby league in a return of sorts to his roots, having played the game as a teenager.<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/p>\n

Nawaqanitawase re-signed with Rugby Australia on a one-year deal in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At just 23 years old, Nawaqanitawase was thought to be a lock to lead the Wallabies through a British and Irish Lions series in 2025.<\/p>\n

It seems that's no longer enough to stop players from crossing codes.<\/p>\n

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Nawaqanitawase could still be an option when the Rugby World Cup rolls around in 2027 on home soil assuming he's keen on a return and the Wallabies want him.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"That's the surprising thing. I think we've hung our hat and rugby on the Lions are coming, we're hosting a World Cup as a way of securing talent. Perhaps that's not enough," said Stan Sport commentator Turinui on Today<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"He sees a program at the Roosters that is a new challenge. I suppose the Wallabies and rugby in Australia will say we're getting Joseph Suaalii. How excited can we be about him coming across?"<\/p>\n

\"Nawaqanitawase<\/p>\n

Turinui labelled the move "a bit of a blow" for rugby union in Australia.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies have no shortage of options for wingers, although Nawaqanitawase was the bona fide first pick throughout 2023.<\/p>\n

"Mark Nawaqanitawase was one of the outstanding players of the last 18 months really, growing into a great Wallaby player," said Turinui.<\/p>\n

"I'm really interested to see how he goes in the NRL. I think we're both fans of both codes so I can't wait to see what a guy with that profile can do in league as well. That could be good for rugby, a guy like that going over and being successful."<\/p>\n

Nawaqanitawase is the first Wallabies player without prior NRL experience to swap codes in nearly three decades.<\/p>\n

\"Roosters<\/p>\n

In 1994, Garrick Morgan signed with the South Queensland Crushers for 1995 after playing in the George Gregan tackle Test at the Sydney Football Stadium.<\/p>\n

The last player at national level to switch code was New Zealand-born Australian Sam Harris, who played for the Waratahs in the then-known Super 14 across 2001 and 2002 before joining the Sea Eagles in the NRL in 2003.<\/p>\n

In rugby's so-called code war, Turinui is eager to see how Nawaqanitawase and Suaalii fair in their respective moves.<\/p>\n

"The first 100 years of league vs union it was one-way traffic from union to league since the first one really," Turinui added.<\/p>\n

"Then we got (Mat) Rogers across, we got Del (Wendell Sailor) across, we got Lote (Tuqiri) across.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Two of those guys went back (to league). This is the first time we've had swaps of young, up-and-coming, great looking footballers going to both codes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It'll be exciting to see who is successful and how they go."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby's most highly coveted contests are no longer enough to sway union players from defecting to league, says former Wallaby Morgan Turinui. Mark Nawaqanitawase's decision […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352458"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=352458"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352464,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352458\/revisions\/352464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/352460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=352458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=352458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=352458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}