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Swapping sides Winger Sailor signs for Australian Rugby Union
SYDNEY (Reuters) -- Australian rugby league winger Wendall Sailor has agreed to switch codes and play rugby union next season, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) announced Wednesday. An ARU spokesman said Sailor, widely regarded as the finest winger in rugby league, had "agreed in principle" to join rugby union and a formal announcement was expected later this week. ARU managing director John O'Neill said later that Sailor could be available for Australia's end of season tour of the Northern Hemisphere in October, which includes tests against France and England. "Given the nature of the tour we're going on at the end of the year, which is very much a development tour, Wendell could well fit into that and give him a good entry point for Super 12," O'Neill said. "Ultimately it's up to the selectors. You don't get handed the Wallaby jersey, you have to earn it. "(But) we're used to taking these leaps of faiths and if you can get 80 per cent right you're doing well and on that basis I think we're on pretty safe ground with Wendell." Australia is the only country to have won the Rugby World Cup twice and the arrival of Sailor, who was a key member of the Australian team that won last year's rugby league World Cup, would strengthen its squad to defend its title at home in 2003. The ARU announced earlier this week that talks had broken down because Sailor had been asking for too much money but the 26-year-old told reporters in Brisbane he expected to sign a four-year deal Thursday to play for Queensland. He did not say how much the deal was worth but said the challenge of possibly representing Australia in a new sport was the driving motivation for him. "If I was after more money I would have gone and played rugby league in England," he said. "There is a challenge for me and my goal is to play in the 2003 World Cup."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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