An already dire week for the Waratahs has further deteriorated with news that Angus Bell has signed on for a six-month sabbatical with Irish club Ulster, meaning he will miss the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season.
Just days after the Waratahs slumped to a seventh defeat of the season, and second straight at home, in a 48-33 loss to the Crusaders, multiple media reports suggest Bell will pack his bag and head for Belfast at the end of the year.
While the Wallabies' first-choice looshead prop would be back in time for the first fixtures in the inaugural Nations Championship in the middle of next year, he will spend the first half of 2026 wearing the black and red of Ulster, competing in both the United Rugby Championship and Rugby Champions Cup.
Few players could be more deserving of a lucrative spell overseas than Bell, with the 24-year-old in career-best form having overcome successive toe injuries that threatened to derail his career completely in 2022 and 2023. He has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing season for the Waratahs and will be among the first players Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt scribbles down on his matchday teamsheet.
Bell is capable of playing big minutes, while his scrummaging has improved dramatically in recent years as he forged a dominant Australia front-row alongside Taniela Tupou, though the tighthead prop has not been at his best since moving to Sydney this season.
Bell made his Super Rugby debut in 2020 at just 19 years of age, and later that year earned his first Wallabies cap when he replaced James Slipper in the fourth Test against the All Blacks in Brisbane.
Five years on, he looks every bit a world-class loosehead prop, with his experience in European rugby set to only add to an already impressive skill set.
However, his departure will be a hammer blow for Waratahs coach Dan McKellar, who was already confined to losing Wallabies forwards Rob Leota and Langi Gleeson, while Tupou is still to decide his own future beyond 2025.
McKellar has been unable to offset some of those departure with former Wallabies back-rower Pete Samu and former Test lock Matt Phillip heading to Sydney next season, while Reds lock Angus Blyth is also reportedly set to make the move south.
Samu's switch from Bordeaux-Begles, which will make him immediately eligible for the Wallabies this season once he returns from France, was finally confirmed by both the Waratahs and Rugby Australia.
"It feels like a full circle moment to come back to Sydney, a place I started my journey to playing professional Rugby and I'm looking forward to linking back up with Dan and the Waratahs who I'm confident are heading in a positive direction," Samu said.
"I'm also highly motivated by the upcoming events in Australian rugby and will certainly be working hard to give myself the best chance to be part of them and earn another opportunity in the gold jersey."
But Bell's departure will leave a seismic hole in the Waratahs' front-row.
Bell had previously signed a four-year extension with the Waratahs and Rugby Australia, but had included a sabbatical clause that he has now executed.
Former Wallabies lock Sam Carter, now at the Western Force, is one Australian to have recently spent time at Ulster, while Bell's deal is similar to those executed by All Blacks Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane with Leinster, the backline duo set to trade places in Dublin on New Zealand Rugby-approved sabbaticals.