Rugby Australia to ask World Rugby for maximum $15m loan

Still without a pay cut deal, Rugby Australia will beg for World Rugby’s maximum cash bailout as it contemplates 26 different models it hopes will get the struggling code back on track.

Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle will ask World Rugby for $16m. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty

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Cash-strapped Rugby Australia will ask the sport’s global governing body to lend it every cent it can spare as it contemplates a staggering 26 different models it hopes will get the struggling code back on track.

If finalising the prolonged negotiations with players to reach agreement on a pay deal isn’t worrying enough, RA’s greatest challenges are still to come and are far more complex than the disagreement over how much money the stars have to forfeit.

Three weeks after RA began talks with the players’ association, they haven’t been able to sign a deal, though both parties are closer than ever to a settlement.

Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle will ask World Rugby for $16m. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty

The main bones of contention have now been resolved and only a few small things need to be agreed, which the RUPA wants to run by players over the weekend with hopes of a deal being announced on Monday.

For the players, who are all still receiving full pay, the extra wait won’t matter one bit, but the clock is ticking for RA, which has much bigger matters to attend to.

Critically, RA can’t begin preparing its application to World Rugby for a cash bailout until the player pay deal is signed off.

Rolling in money after last year’s World Cup, the sport’s international rulers are providing a war chest of $160 million to help its leading member nations get through the COVID-19 lockdown.

Players are still getting paid. Picture: Renee McKay/Getty

It is understood countries can apply for low-interest loans of up to $15 million, and The Saturday Telegraph understands RA is intending to ask for the maximum — and wants it right away because there’s not a minute to spare as its expenses mount up and the coffers run dry.

But getting the cash isn’t as simple as it sounds because all applications will be reviewed independently — by PricewaterhouseCoopers — so RA needs to get its books in order.

World Rugby has also pledged to do everything it can to rearrange the international calendar to help unions recoup as much revenue as possible.

If all goes well, the Rugby Championship will run as planned in August and September and the Wallabies will travel to Europe in November for tests against Ireland, France, Italy and England.

The tests against Ireland and Fiji — scheduled for July — will be moved to October.

But that’s only if all the travel restrictions and social distancing rules that are now in place are lifted — and such are the uncertainties of that happening that The Saturday Telegraph can reveal RA is currently working on more than two dozen contingency plans.

Players are growing increasingly frustrated with Rugby Australia. Picture: AAP/Lukas Coch

There are still so many variables that the 26 scenarios — which include plans for Test rugby, Super Rugby, club rugby, women’s rugby and Sevens — cover every possibility from resuming in June up to playing only in December.

Then there’s the elephant in the room — getting a new broadcast deal for 2021-25 after the process was halted when the COVID-19 pandemic was first announced.

Sources have said RA is not planning to reopen talks with prospective broadcast partners until July — leaving the code with precious little time to thrash out a deal that will have a huge impact on RA’s SANZAAR partners.

Speculation is already rife that Super Rugby is as good as dead for this year because of the high costs of jetting teams around, so the focus for Australia will likely turn to clubs and representative teams in the same time zone.

However, the Rugby Championship could also undergo a major facelift, possibly including Japan and Fiji and eventually being integrated with Europe’s Six Nations into an annual global league that could deliver unprecedented huge profits.

Originally published as Rugby Australia to ask World Rugby for maximum $15m loan