- Ex-Wallabies skipper Rocky Elsom is currently in hiding
- Issued a five-year jail term for misuse of corporate assets
- Was previously president of French rugby club Narbonne
Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom is officially in hiding after he left Ireland fearing he would be extradited to France on a European arrest warrant.
It comes after Elsom, 41, who played 75 caps for the Wallabies, was recently sentenced in absentia to five years in prison for misuse of corporate assets during his tenure as president of French rugby club Narbonne.
The explosive allegations include Elsom backdating a club doctor’s contract, had a payment from beer giant Heineken illegally transferred to a company in his name and he also agreed to salary advances for players.
Elsom was found guilty of forgery and ordered to repay €705,000 ($1.1million) from his time at the club between 2015 and 2016.
He has denied any wrongdoing – and his current location is unknown.
‘All I can say is I spoke to the gardai [Irish police] and they said if I’m in Ireland they’ll have to bring me in,’ Elsom told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘The important thing to remember is if I am in custody, my defence gets a lot more expensive and a lot harder.
‘If I’m detained, I’ll need to engage a lawyer to do everything for me, all the phone conversations, to try and find documents, to talk to people, to try and defend myself.’
Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom is officially in hiding after he left Ireland fearing he would be extradited to France on a European arrest warrant
Elsom, 41, was recently sentenced to five years in jail following alleged conduct when president of French rugby club Narbonne between 2015 and 2016
The former Wallabies skipper (right) played 75 Test matches for the Wallabies, with 22 as captain
In terms of being potentially recognised in public, Elsom admitted: ‘I’ll have to go outside at some point but I am keeping my head down, that’s for sure.’
Before leaving Ireland in a hurry, Elsom was coaching at a school in Dublin – and loved the fact their rugby program was only in its infancy stage.
‘It’s not as if you’re rolling into a Joeys [St Joseph’s College in Sydney’s Hunters Hill] or a Nudgee [College],’ he said.
‘They were going up against much bigger teams and just being a part of it, being on the field all the time, taking the weights sessions, doing the reviews with them…it was great to be there.
‘It was something that had been missing [in my life] for a long time.’
Elsom is also a decorated figure at Irish club side Leinster, who he helped win the 2009 Heineken Cup final.
Before signing with the NSW Waratahs in 2003, the Australian Schoolboys rugby star played Jersey Flegg rugby league at the Bulldogs alongside the likes of future footy legends Johnathan Thurston and Sonny Bill Williams.
