Rugby Australia to oversee Super Rugby clubs in bid to boost game
Rugby Australia will gain control over key management, coaching and talent decisions at the country’s five Super Rugby clubs in a major restructure designed to dramatically improve performance and unify the sport.
The NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds, Canberra Brumbies, Melbourne Rebels and Western Force have agreed to pursue a model that will give RA oversight of high-performance programs and key personnel changes at Super Rugby Pacific and Super W. Once complete, it will be the biggest restructure in Australian rugby union history.
Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan and CEO Phil Waugh will attempt the most significant restructure of the sport in Australian history. Matt King
“We’re going into the World Cup in France in less than a month as number eight in the world and we haven’t had a Super Rugby team in the final of a full Super Rugby competition since 2014,” Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh told The Australian Financial Review. “There’s been an overall dilution of talent leading to worse performances across the system for too long – that’s on the men’s side.
“It means we can assist in employing the general managers of rugby, the general managers of commercial, the head coach, and the high-performance appointments within each Super Rugby club so that all five… are working towards maximising the Wallaroo and Wallaby performances, as well as their own.”
A centralised governing model was floated by previous rugby executives and directors, but the attempts were stalled by bureaucracy and political factions.
In 2021, RA chairman Hamish McLennan pushed publicly for centralisation, a move supported by Mr Waugh, who was a director on the board at the time.
The model is tried and tested in other markets such as
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