News
Lote Tuqiri sacked by ARU
July 01 2009
Lote Tuqiri's contract with the Australian Rugby Union has been terminated with immediate effect, it was announced on Wednesday.
"The employment contract of Lote Tuqiri has been terminated effective today," a statement read.
"ARU has treated this issue as a standard employment matter.
"The ARU will not make any further comment on the matter as it may be the subject of legal proceedings."
One of Australia's highest-paid rugby players, Tuqiri was contracted to the ARU until 2012.
The ARU had been conducting an investigation into a possible breach of the players' code of conduct, but the circumstances of Tuqiri's sacking remain unclear.
Tuqiri, 29, has a far from squeaky clean off-field record since switching to union from NRL club Brisbane in 2003.
In 2005 he was involved in the infamous "ice-throwing" incident in Cape Town which resulted in Matt Henjak being sent home. Tuqiri was fined $500 and given a suspended two-match ban following the incident.
He was sent home from a Wallabies training camp in January 2007 for failing a fitness test and months later apologised to teammate Sam Norton-Knight for shoving him and giving him a verbal spray during a match for the Waratahs.
Later that year, he apologised to Wallabies selector Michael O'Connor for putting a conversation on speaker-phone as O'Connor was being critical of Waratahs team-mate Peter Hewat.
And in July 2007 he was banned for two matches and fined $20,000 for failing to attend a team medical and registering an alcohol reading at a team breath test.
Speculation arose that the 67-Test veteran may consider a move back to rugby league when he was left out of Australia's first four internationals of 2009, with Lachie Turner, Drew Mitchell and Peter Hynes all preferred on the wings.
But Tuqiri denied he would quit rugby in his newspaper column last weekend, and would earn considerably less in the 13-man game.
The Gold Coast Titans have already expressed an interest in Tuqiri, while rebuilding Cronulla and St George Illawarra, the home of former clubmates Wendell Sailor and coach Wayne Bennett could also hold appeal.