# Giteau's law

Giteau's law, or the Giteau law, is a name given to a practice by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) introduced in 2015 to allow overseas-based Australian rugby union players to be eligible to play for the Australian national rugby union team. The policy change is colloquially named after Matt Giteau, as the rule was seen primarily to bring Giteau into the Australian side for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
| Year(s) | Criteria |
| Apr. 2015–Sep. 2020 | Minimum 60 Test caps for Australia; and/or seven seasons at Super Rugby level. |
| Sep. 2020–Feb. 2022 | Minimum 60 Test caps for Australia; and/or seven seasons at Super Rugby level. Two extra overseas-based players (no criteria). |
| Feb. 2022–present | Minimum 30 Test caps for Australia; and/or five seasons at Super Rugby level. Only three overseas-based players can be selected per tournament/series. |

## Background

Before the policy change, players could play for the Australian national rugby union team only if they played for an Australian team in the Super Rugby competition.
Then-head coach Michael Cheika devised Giteau's Law to enable key overseas players to be eligible for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. In April 2015, the Australian Rugby Union announced this new arrangement.
The rule also allows players to return to Test duty immediately if they have signed with a Super Rugby club for the following two years.

## Effect

Assistant national coach Stephen Larkham said the rule enabled the Australian world cup squad to benefit from more experienced players. He said ""It’s not just a team that’s a little bit older and therefore more experienced (but) we’ve got the right number of experienced guys, the right number of older guys and the right number of younger enthusiastic guys."
The New Zealand Rugby Union Chief Executive Steve Tew said he would not implement such a rule as New Zealand "didn’t often follow Australia".
Besides Giteau, Drew Mitchell returned from France for the 2015 World Cup under this rule.
Following the 2015 World Cup, head coach Michael Cheika hoped as much as 85% of the squad would be available for the 2019 Rugby World Cup including players available under Giteau's Law.

## Current eligible players

* Caps updated: 25 August 2022
| Player | Position | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club/province |
| Sekope Kepu | Prop | (1986-02-05) 5 February 1986 (age 38) | 110 | Moana Pasifika |
| Rory Arnold | Lock | (1990-07-01) 1 July 1990 (age 34) | 30 | Hino Red Dolphins |
| Adam Coleman | Lock | (1991-10-07) 7 October 1991 (age 32) | 38 | London Irish |
| Will Skelton | Lock | (1992-05-03) 3 May 1992 (age 32) | 24 | La Rochelle |
| Rob Simmons | Lock | (1989-04-19) 19 April 1989 (age 35) | 105 | London Irish |
| Tom Staniforth | Lock | (1994-07-13) 13 July 1994 (age 30) | 0 | Castres |
| Kane Douglas | Lock | (1990-06-01) 1 June 1990 (age 34) | 31 | Bordeaux Bègles |
| Sam Jeffries | Lock | (1992-05-20) 20 May 1992 (age 32) | 0 | Bristol Bears |
| Sam Carter | Lock | (1989-09-10) 10 September 1989 (age 35) | 16 | Ulster |
| Liam Gill | Flanker | (1992-06-08) 8 June 1992 (age 32) | 15 | Urayasu D-Rocks |
| Jarrad Butler | Flanker | (1991-07-20) 20 July 1991 (age 33) | 0 | Connacht |
| Jordy Reid | Flanker | (1991-10-03) 3 October 1991 (age 33) | 0 | Gloucester Rugby |
| Lukhan Salakaia-Loto | Flanker | (1996-09-19) 19 September 1996 (age 28) | 30 | Northampton Saints |
| Angus Scott-Young | Flanker | (1997-04-23) 23 April 1997 (age 27) | 0 | Northampton Saints |
| Will Genia | Scrum-half | (1988-01-17) 17 January 1988 (age 36) | 110 | Hanazono Kintetsu Liners |
| Joe Powell | Scrum-half | (1994-04-11) 11 April 1994 (age 30) | 4 | London Irish |
| Bernard Foley | Fly-half | (1989-09-08) 8 September 1989 (age 35) | 76 | Kubota Spears |
| Quade Cooper | Fly-half | (1988-04-05) 5 April 1988 (age 36) | 76 | Hanazono Kintetsu Liners |
| Duncan Paia'aua | Fly-half | (1995-01-20) 20 January 1995 (age 29) | 0 | Toulon |
| Jake McIntyre | Fly-half | (1994-04-24) 24 April 1994 (age 30) | 0 | Perpignan |
| Samu Kerevi | Centre | (1993-09-27) 27 September 1993 (age 31) | 41 | Tokyo Sungoliath |
| Matt To'omua | Centre | (1990-01-02) 2 January 1990 (age 34) | 59 | Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars |
| Alex Newsome | Centre | (1996-01-20) 20 January 1996 (age 28) | 0 | Clermont Auvergne |
| Kyle Godwin | Centre | (1992-07-30) 30 July 1992 (age 32) | 1 | Lyon |
| Ben Tapuai | Centre | (1989-01-19) 19 January 1989 (age 35) | 7 | Sharks |
| Marika Koroibete | Wing | (1992-06-26) 26 June 1992 (age 32) | 47 | Saitama Wild Knights |
| Henry Speight | Wing | (1988-03-24) 24 March 1988 (age 36) | 19 | Biarritz |
| Joe Tomane | Wing | (1990-02-11) 11 February 1990 (age 34) | 17 | Biarritz |
| Luke Morahan | Wing | (1990-04-13) 13 April 1990 (age 34) | 3 | Bayonne |
| Jack Maddocks | Fullback | (1997-02-05) 5 February 1997 (age 27) | 7 | Pau |
| Tom Banks | Fullback | (1994-06-18) 18 June 1994 (age 30) | 21 | Honda Heat |

## Amendments

In 2020, Rugby Australia approved an amendment to Giteau's Law that allowed up to two overseas-based players to be selected, regardless of the total overseas-based players in the squad, that did not meet the original criteria to be selected.
In February 2022 further amendments were made to the Giteau Law. The new amendments would lower the original rule (sixty test caps for Australia and a minimum of seven seasons at Super rugby level) to thirty test caps and five years at Super Rugby level, respectively. However, the new amendment only allowed for three overseas-based players to be selected. Just five months after new amendments to the policy, coach Dave Rennie urged Rugby Australia (RA) to expand the overseas-based player policy to four.