Pocock mulls one-year sabbatical

Reports on Wednesday said the Wallabies and his franchise, the Brumbies, in talks over his future.

The loose forward, who recovered from two knee reconstructions in two years to play a stunning role for Australia at the World Cup last year, may take off the whole of 2017 before returning in time for the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

His Australian Rugby Union contract expires on December 31 and discussions are underway with Brumbies Chief Executive Michael Jones and Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, the Daily Telegraph said.

"It creates all sorts of problems if Poey takes a break," Jones told the newspaper.

"My preferred solution, and our offer to him, doesn't allow a break.

"There is still a fair bit of water to go under the bridge."

The Australian Rugby Union said it is "open to any option" in its bid to keep Pocock in a Wallabies jersey for the 2019 World Cup.

ARU Chief Executive Bill Pulver said they will pursue every opportunity in the re-signing quest.

The ARU and Brumbies are working overtime to come up with a flexible deal to offer Pocock to ensure he is not lost to the ACT club and the Wallabies.

It is hoped Pocock will be able to finalise his next contract within the next two weeks in a bid to start the Brumbies' campaign without any distractions.

"Clearly David Pocock is one of the world's best players, if not the world's best player, so suffice to say we are very eager to keep him in Australian rugby. We believe he wants to stay in Australian rugby, so those discussions are ongoing," Pulver said.

"Sadly we operate in a sport where markets like France and the UK and Japan have the capacity to pay players and coaches substantially more than we can. We combat that by trying to create an environment here which is such a wonderful environment they want to be a part of it.

"We are open to any option but it's got to be a balanced outcome. We don't rule anything out and we keep an open mind."

The boss of the breakdown, Pocock's immense value to Australia was never more apparent at the World Cup where he was the Wallabies best player.

In a separate interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Jones said he hoped the situation would be resolved in the next week to 10 days.

Sources: Daily Telegraph  & Sydney Morning Herald