It won’t be the last time the French raid Australia’s top rugby talent

The news that Australia’s under-18 captain Justice Taumoepeau is taking his talents to the Top 14 in France for the next three years had a depressingly familiar feel to it.

Rugby Australia has done a reasonable job of retaining talent from their junior sides, but not all of those players will kick on, and it’s the few who get away who will come back to hurt them.

Taumoepeau, a product of the Waratahs system, is in that category and it is a sort of backhanded compliment to Australia that he has been targeted by Pau in France.

The club has the reputation as one of the best developers of talent in Europe, with brilliant Test backs Fabien Brau-Boirie and Théo Attissogbe notable graduates from their academy.

Of course, Taumoepeau’s exit comes with the now-standard reassurances that RA will keep in touch and he still wants to play for the Wallabies. But Australia’s claim on the young back-rower has been loosened by his departure and it would be naive to think otherwise.

Taumoepeau’s move feels like a kick in the guts because it undermines one of the pillars essential to RA’s bid to revive the Wallabies’ fortunes.

Invest in youth and build, they said, and the Wallabies will reap the benefits.

Well, that is what RA and NSW did with Taumoepeau, but doing the right thing hasn’t stopped the French from coming in and swooping after years of Australian development.

But, such is the harsher world facing Waratahs coach Michael Cheika as he takes on his second stint in the job.

The image of Cheika returning to the Waratahs, flanked by his assistants Stephen Hoiles and Wycliff Palu, prompted some feelgood vibes of better times, like a favourite rock band reforming for another tour.

There is so much about Cheika’s demeanour and language, not to mention his record, that points to the coach instilling a level of belief among his squad.

But, the expectations on Cheika need to come with all manner of caveats.

It would be hard to argue, even risk being labelled a pessimist, that the Waratahs squad Cheika is inheriting is as strong as the one he took over in 2013, never mind the team he refined in the championship year in 2014.

There will be a sprinkling of Wallabies, and the return of Angus Bell from his stint in Ulster will strengthen the pack.

Young No. 8 Isaac Fonua also showed considerable promise, and Cheika will feel confident Palu can, in time, turn him into another Palu.

But last year obvious talents such as Sid Harvey and Jimmy Hendren were up and down with their performances and it is difficult for players of that age to suddenly take a great leap.

The return of Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps were designed to infuse the younger players with know-how and a winning mentality, but the Waratahs project feels like one that should be measured in years, not months. Hoiles, as Cheika’s successor, will be the long-term beneficiary.

Cheika could make fools of us. Perhaps his shock therapy will work and the Waratahs can challenge for a place in the playoffs next year. That would be a success, never mind the title.

But, the reality is the rugby world has shifted since the 2013-2015 period, and a lot of those changes have been hostile to Australian rugby.

French clubs view NSW and Queensland as being in the same neighbourhood as Fiji, figuratively as well as literally, and Taumoepeau probably won’t be the last young player to head north.

The poaching justifiably infuriates RA, and it is quite the flex for Pau to be able to land Australia’s 18s captain.

But, rightly or wrongly, it does reflect how the balance of power has shifted.

When Cheika started at the Waratahs, the Wallabies were No.3 in the world. France was No.4.

Today, the Wallabies are No.7 and the French have retained their position, although back-to-back Six Nations titles and a thriving Top 14 suggests they are in a better place than Ireland (No.3).

Cheika’s second act at the Waratahs, therefore, will be more challenging than the first.

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