Rocky Elsom has called time on his stint with Leinster © Getty Images

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Leinster flanker Rocky Elsom has elected to return to Australia in order to further his international career. Elsom, who turned in a Man of the Match performance as Leinster won the Heineken Cup at Murrayfield last weekend, will finalise his plans with the Australian Rugby Union after coming to the end of his contract with the Dublin side.

With planning underway for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the lure of adding to his 38 caps and shooting for the sport's ultimate prize has proven too much to resist for the all-action Elsom.

"I've really enjoyed this season," said Elsom, who starts for the Barbarians in Saturday's clash with England at Twickenham. "I already liked Dublin before playing for Leinster and obviously enjoyed the rugby. I didn't expect to like it as much as I have done but ultimately I'm Australian and I want to play for Australia.

"You don't always have the opportunity to do that but I do now so I want to take advantage of it. My contract with Leinster is over so I'm going to try and head back to Australia. I want to play for a Super 14 team because my first priority has always been the Wallabies. That's what I want to do. I've spoken at length with the Australian management about moving back, it's not something I've only just decided to do. It's just about finalising things now."

Elsom's influence at Leinster is difficult to understate, with Ireland skipper and Leinster centre Brian O'Driscoll going as far as saying that they couldn't have won the Heineken Cup without him. Elsom's signing has been one of the biggest overseas success stories in recent times and he admitted that his experience proved to be better than he had hoped.

"The experience of playing European rugby has been great," said Elsom. "We have two sprints in Australia - the Super 14 is over three months and the Test season is similar in length. That's it, whereas here it's a lot longer and there are more chances in multiple competitions.

"We're spoilt a bit in the southern hemisphere in terms of the level of the competition. This season has gone a lot better than I expected. I didn't expect it not to be a success, but the way it has turned has been great. We had a team that struggled at times but we fought really hard.

"That doesn't always look good in the middle of the season but it's handy when you play the big matches. You need that spirit - it's all we had at times. We had the final and won that which was fantastic, but a couple of weeks earlier we had what was almost a bigger game in Munster at Croke Park."