Super Rugby saga to drag on after proposed meeting between WA Rugby and ARU is abandoned

THE Super Rugby downsizing saga could drag on for several more weeks - or even longer - after a proposed meeting after WA Rugby and the ARU on Thursday was abandoned.

The Force will have to wait to know their future.

THE Super Rugby downsizing saga could drag on for several more weeks — or even longer — after a proposed meeting after WA Rugby and the Australian Rugby Union on Thursday was abandoned.

But while uncertainty over the futures of the Force and the Rebels will continue, the push for the Brumbies to be brought back into the equation via a merger with Melbourne has been strongly rejected by the ACT franchise, and importantly, the Canberra clubs.

Over three weeks after Rugby WA successfully took legal action blocking the ARU from cutting either the Force and the Rebels in “48-72 hours”, Rugby WA last week said while it was resolute the Force could not be removed they’d sought to meet with the ARU “to help it find a way to achieve a resolution of the current uncertainty.”

The date listed was Thursday April 27 but both the Force and the ARU said last night there would be no meeting after parties failed to come to an agreement on the details.

The Force will have to wait to know their future.

There is the possibility of a phone hook-up but the failure of the parties to agree on a meeting appears to point towards a resolution being some way off, particularly with threats of legal action remaining a live issue.

Though owned by the ARU, the Force believe they have a strong case to keep playing in Super Rugby under an “alliance agreement” between the ARU and Rugby WA signed last year.

Rebels owner Michael Cox has indicated he plans to pursue legal action against the ARU for damage to his club’s brand during the drawn-out process.

Further lengthy delays will aggravate Cox but talk of the impasse being solved by the Brumbies merging with the Rebels is not on the table, according to the Brumbies and the ARU.

The ARU have no power to compel the clubs to join forces, and any merger would require two willing parties.

Brumbies chief executive Michael Thompson said the club is not interested and moreover the Canberra clubs, who are the voting member unions of the Brumbies, are not interested either.

“From our point of view there would be no appetite for it,” Canberra Royals president Darren Goodwin said.

“From John I Dent to NRC and the Brumbies, it’s a valid and really effective pathway. The overall standard of the Canberra club competition has improved out of sight and it’s got a lot to do with that pathway. Without having thought about it for too long, I just don’t know what Melbourne could offer, other than money.”

ARU chairman Cameron Clyne, left, and CEO Bill Pulver.

Cox has questioned why the Brumbies were taken out of the running by the ARU for removal from Super Rugby.

The ARU said it was a combination of their capacity to be financially sustainable and high performance outcomes as Australia’s most successful franchise.

The Brumbies have made the Super Rugby finals every season since 2013, and won two titles. The Canberra club has also produced the highest number of Wallabies during the professional era, many of whom were born and bred in the nation’s capital.

The Brumbies have ten players raised in Canberra in their squad this year.

The club says the Brumbies also attract the third highest viewership on FoxSports, behind NSW and Queensland.

Originally published as Super Rugby saga to drag on after proposed meeting between WA Rugby and ARU is abandoned