BORDEAUX-BEGLES PRESIDENT Laurent Marti has expressed his frustration at Adam Ashley-Cooper’s inclusion in Australia’s Rugby Championship squad.

Ashley-Cooper’s call-up will ensure he is out of Top 14 action until October, but Marti thought the 32-year-old’s international career was on hold.

“Yes, I’m annoyed,” he told Sud-Ouest when quizzed over the back’s Wallabies duties. ”Adam had told me that he would stop playing for the national side. He had the power to say no to his coach and his federation.

He should have told me when we were carrying out our negotiations.”

The club have also recently lost the services of Ashley-Cooper’s international team-mate Sekope Kepu, who was released 12 months into a three-year deal to return to Super Rugby with Waratahs.

And Marti feels the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has not been even-handed in the way it has dealt with the circumstances surrounding Ashley-Cooper and Kepu.

“I’m mad at the ARU,” he said. “We released Kepu when he still had two years remaining on his contract. We haven’t made a fuss about it, or demanded any compensation.

“They were not very graceful.”

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