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Wallaby back Lote Tuqiri is likely to return to rugby league after reports yesterday of a downgrade in his new Australian Rugby Union contract offer.
Reports said the ARU's final offer to the Wallabies winger is $A400,000 ($460,000) less than their initial offer tabled last November. The latest offer prices Tuqiri at $A2.6 million over four years, reports said.
Yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper said sources confirmed the ARU's second and final offer to Tuqiri, which expires tomorrow, was $A400,000 less than the first.
The Herald said the latest offer was almost certain to result in the former Brisbane Broncos winger's return to rugby league, where the only NRL club interested in his signature is South Sydney.
The Herald said it understood that Souths, co-owned by Academy Award winner Russell Crowe, are putting together a package, which is about $A100,000 shy of matching the ARU/NSW Waratahs offer.
Tuqiri has been in negotiations with South Sydney co-owner Peter Holmes a Court and the pair were seen entering the offices of a financial services company in Sydney on Friday, the newspaper said.
Tuqiri, his manager, Holmes a Court and Channel Nine executives have also met to establish whether the television network were prepared to go ahead with a third-party sponsorship deal of Tuqiri to help the Rabbitohs sign him, it said.
The deal is seen as similar to the one Channel Nine organised to help keep St George Illawarra star Mark Gasnier in the NRL last year after interest from the ARU for Gasnier to switch codes.
Souths said they are confident of convincing Tuqiri to turn his back on rugby union and sign with them within days after the Herald said the ARU was displeased by Tuqiri's decision to reject its first offer, which was estimated at $A3million over four years.
The ARU's new contract offer is to cover the period after this year's World Cup in France, for which Tuqiri is contracted to play for the Wallabies, if selected.
