Kurtley Beale should not defect to Europe on a multi-million dollar contract because English clubs have "no soul, no heart" and won't give him the support he needs, according to new Waratahs chief executive Andrew Hore.
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It was reported last month Beale, 27, was seriously considering packing his bags to take up a two-deal worth $2.7million with English club Wasps, making him the highest-paid player in the English Premiership.
Beale has been tempted by such an offer but no official announcement has been made regarding his departure from Super Rugby.
As for Hore, he is a man who understands the European rugby scene.
He has just left his position as the chief executive of Welsh club Ospreys after four years and before that he oversaw player development when Wales completed the grand slam in 2005, their first in 27 years.
Hore, who says he has not spoken to Beale about contract negotiations, warned the Waratahs star about making the switch.
"The only thing I would say with Kurtley going to Wasps is you're going to get very limited support," Hore said. "They're very transient clubs whereas here we know we're representing the community. The English clubs have become very transient and they've got no soul, no heart. There's a lot of downsides to Europe. It's not always about how much money you put in a kid's back pocket; it's about the environment around them."
The problem of European clubs throwing cash at young Australian footballers will not resolve itself anytime soon, but Hore has offered his opinion on what could be done to soften the exodus of players.
He says the reason England and France are able to attract players is because of the money they generate from their own domestic competitions on top of international fixtures, meaning an Australian-only competition would, in his opinion, be a solution.
"This is a world rugby problem that world rugby seem to be digging their head in the sand," Hore said. "Can we counter it [losing players] in the medium to long term? Yes we can. Are we being smart about it? No we're not.
"The only way I think we're going to get round that problem, in my mind, is if we start to work out competition structures for domestic rugby which generate cash. The key difference between France and England compared to the other eight tier one nations is they've allowed their clubs to go and generate competition structures which people want to invest in. I'd rather see less games as a whole, with a higher value, more like American football."
From a NSW perspective, Hore says there should be a bigger emphasis on trying to secure more overseas sponsorship, given that Super Rugby is shown all over the world.
"Every Saturday morning when I turned on the television at Ospreys, Super Rugby was on," Hore said. "We've just got start thinking globally and not thinking domestically about our own patch. All team sports have got issues globally and we've got to find out what are our key selling points are."
