Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle has confirmed Wallabies lock Will Skelton wasn’t prepared to sign a contract until 2021, with the giant second rower instead committing to English Premiership and European champions Saracens.

Skelton ,who won the last of his 16 caps back in 2016, described his decision to stay in England rather than return to Australia as a “no-brainer”.

The former Waratahs second rower has inked a fresh two-year deal with London club Saracens, continuing an association that began in 2016.

The 27-year-old powerhouse forward had been in discussions as recently as a week ago with Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, who tried to sell the merits of a return to Australia and potential selection in his just-named World Cup squad.

The talks failed to convince Skelton, who will stay in England until at least 2021, making him ineligible for the Wallabies,

Skelton doesn’t meet the Giteau rule criteria of 60 Test caps and seven years in Super Rugby, for overseas-based players to continue representing the Wallabies.

RA have allowed overseas-based players Matt Toomua and Nic White to represent Australia again because they signed a contact to play Super Rugby for at least a portion of the following year.

However, Castle said Skelton didn’t want to return to Australia for two years.

“If he was able to come back and play some Super Rugby in 2020, he basically had to give up the last year of his Saracens contract and sign with Rugby Australia,” Castle said.

“We would have had some flexibility, like we would have with Nic White and Matt Toomua, that they could finish their season and come back and play the back half of Super Rugby.

“That would have been within the bounds of the Giteau law, but he was looking to not come back until he following year and that wasn’t acceptable to us.”.

Skelton told the Saracens website he was very stoked to extend his association with the club.

“It’s an opportunity to get better and it’s a blessing to do something you enjoy,” Skelton said.

“I enjoy being in the boys’ company, the coaches are great and coming into working and enjoying your job is the main reason why we stayed.

“Having the opportunity to stay here was almost a no-brainer for me. Having this culture of working hard and having great people around me made it an easy decision.”