Australia's rugby league experiment implodes

As Lote Tuqiri's sensational sacking heads to the courts and Timana Tahu seeks a contract release, the Australian Rugby Union's bold experiment of recruiting high-profile rugby league stars has spectacularly imploded.

The ARU created headlines when it splashed out big money early this decade to entice crowd-pulling stars from its rival code to bolster the Wallabies' playing ranks.

Wendell Sailor and Mat Rogers kicked it all off when they made the switch late in 2001, to be followed two years later by Tuqiri, with Tahu crossing the great divide last year.

All have now left rugby, either in disgrace or rancour, leaving behind many misgivings in the 15-a-side game.

Critics have questioned the ARU's costly exercise of short-term gain for long-term financial pain.

Of the backs quartet, Tuqiri, 29, enjoyed the greater success. Sixty seven international appearances, immensely popular with the fans and merchandising gold for the marketers with his flowing dreadlocks.

The Fijian-born winger played in two World Cups for the Wallabies, scoring a try in the 2003 final loss to England, and finished with 30 tries.

Yet trouble stalked the charismatic Tuqiri, eventually leading to his dramatic dumping last month.

The ARU have refused to divulge what triggered their decision to terminate Tuqiri's lucrative contract halfway through its five-year run, fearing it might prejudice their position in any future litigation.

But he had a far from squeaky clean off-field record in his six years as a Wallaby.

He was fined and given a suspended two-match ban for his part in an 'ice-throwing' incident in Cape Town which resulted in teammate Matt Henjak being sent home.

Tuqiri was sent home from a Wallabies' training camp in January 2007 for failing a fitness test and a few months later was banned for two matches and fined A$20,000 for registering an alcohol reading at a team breath test.

Sailor, 35, who is now resurrecting his playing career with National Rugby League pacesetters St George Illawarra, was banished from rugby union after testing positive for cocaine after playing for the NSW Waratahs in 2006.

His contract was terminated after he was found guilty of taking the prohibited substance and was suspended for two years.

Sailor was a moderate success in rugby with 13 tries in 37 internationals, but he was inhibited by his inability to kick his way out of trouble when under pressure.

He once notably was forced to tuck the ball under his arm when closed in on his own try-line and burst away for a length-of-the-field try against Wales in Sydney in 2003.

Rogers fell out of love with rugby after five injury-riddled years and 45 internationals and jumped ship back to league in late 2006.

It was a bitter Rogers, 33, who decried rugby for being too bogged down in technicalities, compared to rugby league where he now plays with Gold Coast Titans.

"I'm not surprised people struggle to follow it because I played it for five years and I still struggle to understand the rules," Rogers said.

"The whole technical aspect of rugby is just too much. There's the lineouts, the scrummaging and the breakdown laws you have to worry about. It's just information overload. Rugby is not for me."

Tahu, 28, has now become the fourth and latest prominent convert to flee rugby.

The outside back, who scored 102 tries in the NRL before switching to rugby in 2008, was so disenchanted with his lack of playing opportunities at the NSW Waratahs that he was prepared to take a sizeable pay cut to return to Parramatta and the NRL.

He made just four test appearances for the Wallabies and had the prospect of more according to Wallabies' coach Robbie Deans, but still sought a release from the final two years of his ARU contract.

Sourced from: The New Zealand Herald