Jarryd Hayne approaches ARU

The Chief Executive Officer of Australian Rugby Union (ARU) Bill Pulver has confirmed that they are in touch with the former National Rugby League (NRL) and former National Football League (NFL) star Jarryd Hayne to persuade him to play in the Super Rugby.

Hayne was part of the Fiji Sevens squad in the recently concluded World Rugby Sevens Series but after failing to make an impact, he was eventually left out of the 12-man Fiji squad to take part in the upcoming Olympics.

With speculations rising that Hayne might return back to the NRL to play for the Parramatta Eels again, the 28-year-old met ARU about the prospects of playing for the Waratahs, where he will be joining Israel Folau. Pulver confirmed Hayne's approach to ARU.

"We have had dialogue with Jarryd and discussed the potential opportunities available to him in rugby," Pulver said.

"Jarryd is obviously a very high-calibre athlete and we are always open to talking to a player who is genuinely interested in playing the game."

Earlier, Australian head coach Michael Cheika also expressed his desire to have a player of Hayne's calibre in the Australian set-up.

"Quality marquees like a guy like Hayne makes his team more competitive. And when his team's more competitive they're playing in the finals, they're playing at the front end. I've lived that experience in Ireland where we had foreign marquee players, and they helped us become more and more competitive," he said.