Wallabies players will be forced to choose whether to compete in Super Rugby or sevens at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

ARU boss Bill Pulver says that the door remains wide open for Wallabies to play in the Australia Sevens team that will be heading to the Olympic Games, and if they choose to do so, the union will help their 'compromise' from a financial point of view.

‘In terms of making Test players available for the Olympics sevens, I have no doubt we would be prepared to do that,’ said Pulver. ‘That may force some compromise on behalf of players, in terms of whether they're prepared to give up a season of Super Rugby to play sevens.

‘There are a couple of financial considerations that need to take place. Obviously as a Super Rugby player and a Test rugby player, your earning capacity is at the moment way above a sevens player. But from an ARU perspective we will doing our best to overcome that issue.’

Wallabies flyhalf Quade Cooper publicly questioned the stance of the ARU on who will be able to compete for a gold medal in 2016.

‘The Olympic Games is something which goes beyond a lot of the rules and guidelines which you see in place across the different professional sporting codes and competitions,’ said Cooper to The Australian. ‘It is a real privilege rugby has been afforded and I think it is wrong to have any professional code using that privilege to force athletes into playing in one particular place.

‘If we are serious about putting our best team on the park … we need to be looking at Aussie players, no matter where they are playing.’

Source: Daily Telegraph
Photo: Matt King/Getty Images