Newcastle may have to brace themselves for an ugly tug-of-war over Radike Samo after the Australian Rugby Union confirmed today they want to persuade him against completing his move to the English Powergen Cup winners.
Newcastle announced on May 20 they had signed Samo on a two-year deal, but the Fijian-born lock today stated he had only signed a letter of intent to join the Falcons.
Investigations are underway in the ARU to source how legally binding that commitment is, with Wallabies coach Eddie Jones anxious to have the elusive lock-cum-blindside flanker available for the long term.
The 28-year-old late bloomer enjoyed a stunning season as the ACT Brumbies won the Super 12 title and he was today rewarded with a place in his first Australia squad.
"We are in continuing discussions to try and find out precisely where his contract is," said Jones. "If he is not legally bound to Newcastle, we will continue negotiations to try and get him signed up in Australia.
"We want him to play for Australia. He has indicated he wants to play for the Wallabies. "We don't have a full understanding. We are trying to find out."
Samo, who has lost his voice, was unsure what was happening when approached at the Wallabies team announcement ceremony in Sydney.
Asked whether he still planned on playing for Newcastle, he whispered:
"Yeah." Asked whether he had signed a letter of intent or a full contract, he whispered: "Yeah, letter of intent. I don't know how binding it is. I am pretty happy at the moment but I can't say anything about it.
"I would like to stay for one more year or two, but I don't know what's going to happen. We'll just have to wait and see."
Samo's manager Jason Macarthur was not immediately available for any comment that might help iron out the confusion.
What is clear, however, is that Samo has decided to play for the Wallabies ahead of Fiji - who named him in their squad last Saturday - and the ARU are anxious to resign him.
However Newcastle remain confident that he will be playing with them next season.
In a statement issued by the club on Tuesday morning Director of rugby Rob Andrew said "Radike's agreement to join Newcastle Falcons is binding, and at no stage has there been any indication from either the player or his representatives that he does not intend to honour it.We look forward to seeing him at Kingston Park ahead of the upcoming English season, and do not intend to make any further comment on the matter."
"Whichever avenue Radike wishes to go down in pursuing his international career is a purely personal decision, to which the club does not intend having any input," added Andrew. "Whether he chooses Fiji or Australia is up to him."
However the ARU's high performance manager Brett Robinson said: "We are in conversations with his management team about retaining his services beyond this year," said. "We would hope to think (that he is in a situation where he can play here next year)."
The offer Samo had initially received from the ARU did not come close to matching Newcastle's financial package, but Jones hopes the prospect of the Wallaby jersey would be enough for him to stay Down Under.
"The lure of the pound and the various sorts of tax schemes they have in place in England always makes it hard to keep players," he said. "That is the problem we face all the time. To match the market value of the players in Europe is very difficult. Guys don't make decisions just on finance. It depends on the individual."
After being overlooked for so many years and inexplicably missing out on the World Cup, Samo was last week included in his first Fiji squad. But under the terms of his Super 12 contract, Australia have first refusal. When announcing Samo's move to Newcastle, Macarthur revealed playing for Australia remained his client's chief ambition.
A move to Newcastle would jeopardise Samo's newly-found Wallabies career because ARU policy is against selecting overseas-based players.
"We like to think the Super 12 is the selection environment for our national team," said Robinson.