Kurtley Beale’s Australian rugby union career was thrown deeper into jeopardy today, after it emerged that he will face a code of conduct tribunal on a new allegation that he distributed “inappropriate and deeply offensive text messages and images to a number of people in June, referencing an ARU staff member”.
ARU chief executive Bill Pulver would not say who the staff member was, but it is believed to be Di Patston, with whom Beale had a mid-air argument on a team flight to Argentina earlier this month. He was subsequently dropped from the Wallabies’ ensuing test with the Pumas.
Beale has been stood down from playing for the national side pending the outcome of the tribunal, and will not be available for selection for the Bledisloe Cup match against New Zealand a week on Saturday.
With his ARU contract due to run out this year, there is now the significant possibility that Beale has played his last game of rugby union in Australia, with reported interest from NRL franchises as well as some of France’s top sides.
When asked about next week’s tribunal, Pulver kept his cards close to his chest, insisting he did not want to go into detail about the content of the messages.
“I really don’t want to prejudge that right now. Sufficient to say, this is deeply offensive material involved. Now we need to run a process where Kurtley has his opportunity to present his case,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“However, they’re deeply offensive, I think that’s probably sufficient to say. My understanding is they were shared with members of the team environment … Not clear who, but it was inadvertently sent to the employee concerned.”
Pulver batted away questions about rumours of disharmony amongst the squad, with several of the players alleged to have backed up Beale in his argument with Patston. The ARU chief executive insists the players still have confidence in head coach Ewen McKenzie after a disappointing Rugby Championship campaign.
“I’m totally confident they do,” he said. “Ewen is a great coach. We’re not where we want to be, but I have total confidence in Ewen as the Wallabies coach. I don’t believe we have a dysfunctional environment inside the Wallabies.”
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
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