ACT Brumbies consider taking home games to ANZ Stadium after Waratahs snub

THE Brumbies are considering taking a home games to ANZ Stadium after the Waratahs recently decided they would be abandon western Sydney.

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 13: Nic White of the Brumbies scores a try during the round one Super Rugby match between the Brumbies and the Reds at GIO Stadium on February 13, 2015 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Stefan Postles/Getty Images)

COULD the Brumbies be about to march on the Waratahs’ western front?

The ACT franchise are considering taking a home game or two to ANZ Stadium after the Waratahs recently decided they would be abandon western Sydney and play all their games at Allianz Stadium.

The idea is at an embryonic stage and though staying tight-lipped, both organisations are keen to talk about a deal.

The administrators of ANZ Stadium, Stadium Australia Operations, are still fuming after the NSWRU recently backflipped on a $12 million, six-year deal that would have seen SAO take over the front-office of the Tahs, but not buy the whole team.

The deal was worth $2 million a year, and with a five year option could be worth $22m over 11 years. Two games a year, plus finals, would have continued to be played at Homebush.

Press releases were drawn up before Christmas but fierce opposition by the Sydney Cricket and Football Ground Trust saw the deal sunk. Though it seems unfeasible, the Trust threatened to kick the Waratahs out of Allianz Stadium entirely and the NSWRU board caved and overruled the Waratahs board, signing a new exclusive deal with Allianz until 2031.

The net result is the Waratahs will have no presence in western Sydney next year, unless they make the Grand Final.

The ACT Brumbies could look to steal the western Sydney market from under the Waratahs’ noses.

The region has been long neglected, despite being rich with talent; over half of last year’s title-winning Tahs squad identified themselves as westies. Coach Michael Cheika is said to be dismayed, having worked hard to re-engage the team with western Sydney.

Enter the Brumbies, whose hiring agreement with GIO Stadium is up for renegotiation.

ANZ Stadium effectively have $2m a year to now spend on new deals, and a chance for the Brumbies to enter the Waratahs’ vacated territory in the fertile western Sydney market would be icing on the cake. With plenty of rugby fans disenfranchised with the Tahs’ eastern retreat, the Brumbies could mine the region for fans, memberships and even talent.

The Greater Sydney Giants have a similar deal in reverse, and one-quarter of their members are now from Canberra.

The Waratahs will have no presence at ANZ Stadium unless they host a Super Rugby final.

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IT’S cheaper than a holiday. Matt Toomua unveiled his new-look cornrows last weekend, but had it not been for his fiance, dual-sports star Ellyse Perry, the Brumbies playmaker would have been sporting them on Kuta Beach in his holidays.

Perry explained to us: “Matt has been pestering me to go to Bali for a quite a while, I’m not so keen, so we comprised and he got braids instead.”

Toomua’s teammate Joe Tomane, who began the cornrow trend in Canberra, went as far as posting a Facebook request this week searching for any capable locals in New Plymouth who could redo his rows before he takes on the Chiefs tonight.

Matt Toomua sports his new hairdo against the Reds.

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MICHAEL Cheika says he will use the bye week to talk with Bernard Foley about his future. As we’ve reported, Foley is a done deal to play in Japan but Cheika is still attempting to convince his no. 10 into playing for the Waratahs next season — not the Aussie sevens team in Rio.

That would seemingly require even more change to the ARU’s contracting rules, but hey, the times they are a’changing.

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TALK of World Cup bonuses always divides opinion but for those who scoff at the Wallabies sharing around $3 million for winning, keep this in mind. They’d be better off being English, or even New Zealanders. Way better off.

The Kiwis have negotiated a $A120,000 per player winning bonus, and the English players will pocket a staggering $A330,000 bonus per man if they win on home soil. That’s on top of a $A30,000 fee per Test.

Australian players will be lucky to get $100,000 each, insiders say.

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HE may have 77,000 Twitter followers who closely follow his thoughts and commentary, but David Pocock has sworn off social media for up to a month as he recovers from ankle injury.

Pocock will not be in Twitter, Facebook or Instagram until he is ready to return to the field, having suffered an ankle syndesmosis injury in his big return to action last weekend against Queensland.

The injury-prone star was impressive in his first game in nearly one year, but is now set to be sidelined for four games.

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ALL Blacks skipper Richie McCaw has given his strongest indication yet that he will retire after this year’s World Cup.

Deemed by many to be the greatest player in history, McCaw has shut down speculation that he could sign with French rugby in 2016, saying: “Honestly, I haven’t made any final decision but probably the likelihood is I’m not going to be playing next year.”

McCaw added that he would not play overseas, saying he’d never been motivated to play outside of New Zealand.

Will this be Richie McCaw’s last season?

Originally published as ACT Brumbies consider taking home games to ANZ Stadium after Waratahs snub