Connolly set to make Sailor walk the plank

MELBOURNE - Wallabies rugby coach John Connolly appeared to draw the international career of troubled Wendell Sailor to a close today, describing the New South Wales winger as a "fringe player" in his selection plans.

The 31-year-old Sailor was stood down by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) on Sunday after he had been notified by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority that he had returned a positive sample for a banned substance.

Should the B test on Sailor's sample also prove positive then the Waratah winger faces a two-year ban from the sport that would effectively end his career.

"He may have made the squad or he may not," Connolly said today.

"He was only a fringe selection for the squad and his form and nothing else would have been the big factor of whether he had played or not."

Connolly, who is yet to take a Wallaby team into action since he succeeded Eddie Jones as coach in February, names his squad for June's two-test series against England next week.

If Sailor was looking for any solace after his latest brush with the game's authorities, Connolly's comments would have sounded ominous.

"Any professional sportsmen ought to know the rules, that's not pre-empting whether he's guilty or not. But a player should know the rules and stick by them," he added.

Former Bath coach Connolly said any punishment meted out to Sailor was entirely the responsibility of the ARU and the New South Wales Rugby Union.

"I haven't spoken to Wendell this week, I don't know him that well. We'll just have to see what unfolds over the next week." Sailor, capped 37 times by the Wallabies since his debut against France in Melbourne in 2002, has endured a troubled career since switching codes from rugby league.

He was handed a two-match suspended sentence for a nightclub incident while touring South Africa with the Australian test team in 2005.

He was also fined A$500 ($620) and suspended for one match by the Waratahs over a drunken incident in a South African nightclub in February, but the ARU imposed an additional two-match ban and an extra A$3500 fine for bringing the game into disrepute.

- REUTERS