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Sailing by League winger declines code switch; Campese had doubts
SYDNEY (Reuters) -- Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has failed to lure Australian rugby league winger Wendell Sailor to switch codes, but Wallaby great David Campese said Sailor would not have made the grade anyway. ARU said Friday saying it would stop negotiations with Sailor, 26, one of the best rugby league players in the world, because "we weren't prepared to pay over the odds". Campese, regarded as one of the great rugby union wingers in history, said Sailor, a key member of Australia's rugby league World Cup-winning team last year, would not have succeeded at rugby union. "He wouldn't have made it. It's a different game," Campese was quoted as saying in The Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper Saturday. He could not be reached for comment on the report. "He's big and he could hit it up but he can't kick, doesn't know about our support game and doesn't know how to run the angles," he was quoted as saying. "I'm glad he's staying with the Brisbane Broncos." The newspaper reported that Sailor's asking price had been US$378,000 a season, which would place him alongside World Cup-winning Wallaby captain John Eales as the highest-paid players in Australian rugby. "Rugby has been consistent in not paying excessive amounts to lure rugby league players," ARU managing director John O'Neill said. "We had enormous faith in Wendell's capacity to play rugby at the highest level." "We wish Wendell well in the rugby league club competition." A statement from Sailor's management said the ARU offer was "not competitive" and that "promises of international stardom are not enough." "Given what Wendell would bring to the game of rugby in Australia, both on and off the field, the ARU has lost a golden opportunity," the statement said.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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