Rugby Australia could still walk away from Super Rugby in 2024, with the governing body left disappointed after New Zealand Rugby backtracked on pledges.
“They’ve been naughty boys,” RA president Hamish McLennan told foxsports.com.au.
It comes as RA is fielding calls about private equity deals, promising to pump $100 million to $200 million into the game.
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Rugby Australia president Hamish McLennan says New Zealand rugby has been “naughty boys”. Photo: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
Almost six weeks ago, the long-time partners met in Adelaide ahead of Australia’s historic double-header against New Zealand’s Black Ferns and South Africa’s Springboks.
In the City of Churches, the NZR board, led by chief executive Mark Robinson, sat in a boardroom with their RA counterparts and tried to reach a deal to secure their internal future until 2030.
There, Robinson, NZR board members Bart Campbell and Bailey Mackey, as well as Blues chairman Don Mackinnon, displayed the model on a white board of the way forward for Super Rugby Pacific.
They addressed RA CEO Andy Marinos, McLennan, manager Matthew Hanning, Waratahs chairman Tony Crawford and Brumbies chairman Matt Nobbs.
At the heart of the meetings was a financial imbalance and how the two unions could once again make Super Rugby the envy of the world.
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There is currently a huge imbalance between the two streaming deals, with RA’s deal with Stan/Nine only amounting to $33 million per year. That figure is far less than the estimated $100 million Sky Sport is paying NZR.
So when Robinson came to the drawing board with his version of RA’s 50-50 split, the governing body, with the support of its various stakeholders, agreed.
Since then, however, the tide has turned with the NZR putting forward an alternative proposal.
With a Lions series on the horizon in 2025 and a home World Cup in 2027, as well as a private equity deal on the horizon, RA believe they would be shooting themselves in the foot if they agreed to the deal.
“The idea of this meeting in Adelaide was to get everyone together and try to come to an agreement,” Nobbs told foxsports.com.au.
“And they had done a task force, but it seemed like they had done the task force before consulting with their members.
“It seems like once they introduced us, they’ve gone back to their members and said this is our proposal to RA and I think obviously their members have gone, wait, ‘I think you’re probably going to have to push for a little more let’s see if we can get a little more RA’”.
Nobbs said RA and its Super Rugby franchises were just trying to get “parity”.
The Brumbies chair has backed McLennan’s call that if an equality deal is not put forward, they will still consider forming their own national competition.
The Brumbies were left heartbroken by a narrow defeat to the Blues in the Super Rugby Pacific semi-final at Eden Park. Photo: AFPSource: AFP
“I think if you have a fair and equitable partnership, which is what RA strives to do, you don’t want a situation where you have a dominant partner,” he said.
“At the end of the day we have to try to make this competition the best provincial competition in the world, and I don’t think it is at the moment because I think if you look at the results of the Wallabies and the results of the Kiwis against Ireland the idea that this is the best provincial competition in the world no longer accumulates.
“I think these northern hemisphere nations have got us.
“Personally, I think we have to work together to make this a very, very strong competition.
“To do that, it has to be a fair and equitable partnership because you don’t want one dominant party trying to screw up the other.”
Tensions arise as NZR tries to push RA into signing a private equity deal with Silver Lake.
Mark Robinson has been called up by Rugby Australia officials. Photo: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
After a year of negotiations, the NZR signed a 180 million Australian dollar deal with the American company. Several other unions, as well as the Six Nations, have signed agreements with CVC.
It means NZR could be isolated if RA does not sign a deal with Silver Lake.
“I mean they did a private equity deal on the condition that the Australian teams were part of a Super Rugby competition going forward,” Nobbs said.
While Nobbs admitted both unions had time up their sleeves, he said it was vital they made the competition “as strong as we can”.
“It’s important that it does, we have time, but certainty is the most important thing, especially when there are commercial departments that want to meet with potential sponsors or partners,” he said.
“It’s a lot easier to turn around and say, ‘look, we’ve signed a deal with New Zealand Rugby until 2030, the competition is here to stay.’ We will make it the best provincial competition in the world.
“Then all of a sudden you have a much easier conversation with potential sponsors and investors than if you have a competition that stretches from one year to the next.”