It is the sort of storyline you would expect for an old movie in the Outback: Wallaby on the Run.
Rocky Elsom was unable to reveal his location when he took my call on Tuesday night but he is living out of a rucksack with the help of a couple of friends.
A surprise arrest warrant was issued last month for the former Australia captain, 41, who has been sentenced in absentia to five years in French prison for forgery and embezzlement during his time as club president of Narbonne.
The charges include backdating contracts and illegal fund transfers, with Elsom ordered to pay more than €700,000 (£583,000). It is a complex case and many believe Elsom is being used as a scapegoat after the club went into administration in 2018.
When the Gardai tried to track him down last month, Elsom was living in Dublin, coaching rugby at the Catholic University School, but he has been in hiding ever since.
An arrest warrant was issued last month for former Australia captain Rocky Elsom
The former back-rower has been sentenced in absentia to five years in French prison for forgery and embezzlement during his time at French side Narbonne
The charges include backdating contracts and illegal fund transfers, with Elsom ordered to pay more than €700,000 (£583,000)
‘As soon as I saw the news reports, I just packed straight away,’ Elsom, who won 75 caps for the Wallabies and won the 2009 Heineken Cup with Leinster, told Mail Sport. ‘I was packing when people were calling me to tell me what they’d read.
‘I was only in Dublin for six weeks. I was there on a holiday visa. I left all my things behind. I just had a backpack when I left, with two shirts and a washbag.
‘It’s unusual to think that you wake up one day and you’re convicted of something and sentenced to prison when you had no idea you were on trial. There doesn’t seem like there was any genuine attempt to contact me prior to it.’
A few weeks earlier, Elsom had been interviewed by a newspaper about his coaching work in Ireland.
‘In France, I guess they’d say they’ve been trying to contact me for eight years,’ he said. ‘But the Gardai were able to do it within an hour of getting the extradition. They got my phone number.
‘You’d have to ask them how they got it, but the newspaper article would have been a dead giveaway, for sure. How they got my home address and my children’s phone numbers is a little bit different but it certainly didn’t take them long.
‘They came to CUS, they came to my home and, when they couldn’t find me, they called me and said, “If you’re in Ireland, we’re going to bring you in”. I said, “That’s good, I’m not in Ireland”.’
Elsom would not clarify whether he left the country by plane, car or boat. Driving across the border into Northern Ireland would have been the quickest option.
When the Gardai tried to track him down last month, Elsom was living in Dublin, coaching rugby at the Catholic University School
The flanker played for several clubs including Leinster, notably winning the Heineken Cup with the Irish side in 2009
He has recently worked as a builder but is relying on friends and savings.
‘It’s almost impossible for me to generate income right now,’ he said. ‘That might change in the future but right now it’s understandably more difficult for me to generate income while I’m under an arrest warrant and trying not to be noticed.
‘It looks pretty suspicious if someone hides their face, so I just don’t go out much. If you see someone hiding their face, it probably attracts more attention. I know people where I am, so it’s not as if I’m in an igloo.
‘Staying in a hotel would be a bit more worrying given they’d have my name on the room. I’ve got to try to get some exercise when I can and some sun because this could go on for a while.’
Before the trial, the only attempt to contact him was by letters sent to an unused storage unit in Sydney.
‘Financially, it’s incredibly restricting. But on top of that you have expenses – particularly the legal expenses,’ he said. ‘You can accrue a €10,000 legal bill quite easily if your lawyer is having to track everything down themselves and I didn’t have access to a computer.
‘I just have to use whatever information I can get from the court and pull together the documents from where I am to prepare a case. It was eight years ago and I don’t have full access to the club.
‘It’s about trying to get back in touch with the club and their professionals who were in charge of the accounts, and are in possession of some of the information that could exonerate me.’
Elsom revealed he has recently worked as a builder but he is relying on friends and savings for money
Elsom is now trying to clear his name and stated that there ‘are quite a few things that did not add up’ relating to the case against him
He added: ‘There are quite a few things that don’t add up. There was no mismanagement. The legal case is so fragile that it’s obvious they were looking for the crime or something to throw mud about before they went looking for anything else.
‘They had their trial without me. I think it is an attempt to rewrite the story of 2018 when they changed the coach halfway through the season. That coach went to the last-placed team in the league and went on a phenomenal winning streak.
‘At the same time, Narbonne won something like one game in 15. That was the biggest losing streak they’d ever been on and financially it was mismanaged because at the end of the season they were put into administration.
‘The biggest thing I guess is that I don’t think the allegations can show any harm was done to the club.’
The case continues.
British and Irish Lions unveil new jersey
Mike Ashley’s son-in-law Michael Murray was among the guests at the unveiling of the 2025 British and Irish Lions jersey on Wednesday morning.
The event was held on Oxford Street at the flagship Flannels store, which falls under Ashley’s Fraser Group empire alongside Sports Direct.
The goody bags handed out to guests were reflective of Ashley’s cost-cutting ventures, featuring Australian hats and a notepad, rather than the £84 jersey which has been handed out before previous tours.
The British and Irish Lions have revealed their new kit for their 2025 tour of Australia
The event was held on Oxford Street at the flagship Flannels store with several former Lions, Tommy Bowey
England’s surprise new ‘sleep yoga’ training plan
England’s players have been using ‘sleep yoga’ to prepare for Saturday’s game against the Wallabies.
Flanker Tom Curry has been one of the biggest fans of the sessions, led by sports therapist Becky Behan in the evenings at Pennyhill Park.
Sleep yoga is a meditative exercise which combines yoga and sleep science, typically featuring relaxation poses and breathing techniques.
Could another England star jump ship to France?
Stalwart Harlequins flanker Will Evans is the latest player to be linked with a move away from the club at the end of the season.
Evans is understood to be exploring a move to France’s ProD2 when his contract expires.
Quins are facing a large exodus, with centre Lennox Anyanwu and young hooker Nathan Jibulu both wanted elsewhere.
England have been using ‘sleep yoga’ to prepare for Saturday’s game against Australia
Harlequins could be facing a large exodus of players next year, with Will Evans (centre) being linked with a move to France
Promising young centre Lennox Anyanwu (pictured) could also be set to leave the London club
Veterans Danny Care and Joe Marler are in line to retire, while another former England international in Joe Launchbury is out of contract.
Lions chiefs hoping for free-to-air Dublin fixture
Final negotiations are underway on a broadcast deal for the Lions curtain-raiser against Argentina in Dublin next year, as the match is not a part of the Sky Sports package for the tour of Australia.
Lions chiefs are hoping to broadcast the fixture on free-to-air TV, having struck up a deal with Channel 4 for their game against Japan before the 2021 tour of South Africa.
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