Andrew Forrest insists his competition will go ahead

Andrew Forrest says his Indo Pacific Rugby Championship has attracted more than 250 inquiries from elite players.

Andrew Forrest says his competition will go ahead with or without RA support

Billionaire mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest said yesterday his planned Indo Pacific Rugby Championship had attracted more than 250 inquiries from elite players around the world and would definitely go ahead, irrespective of whether Rugby Australia gave its approval.

Speaking at the launch of RugbyRoos, his junior development initiative aimed at children four to 12 years of age, Forrest vowed that every professional rugby player who signs with him would be bound contractually to provide 350 hours of personal time to community rugby projects.

Forrest continued to speak in conciliatory tones about RA while also taking a non-negotiable line about the future of the IPRC.

“Rugby Australia have had a changing of the guard that’s very welcome,” said Forrest, speaking of the departure of former chief executive Bill Pulver and the recent instalment of Raelene Castle as his replacement. “I’ve met with Raelene ... a good leader.

“The IPRC will be an international tournament ... we’ll either get Rugby Australia’s approval or we won’t, but either way we’re going to roll. We’re still negotiating with RA but we’ve had endorsement from Rugby Asia and World Rugby is completely on side (conditional on RA giving its endorsement.) We’ve also had interest from the United States, so it’s all over the world.”

Talks with RA, whose negotiating team is headed by deputy chairman Brett Robinson, are scheduled shortly and may have a new item on the agenda following Forrest’s announcement that he intends taking the RugbyRoos idea to the nation.

“Through RugbyWA, we had a development weekend in Albany recently and 900 kids showed up,” he said. “There is real interest in rugby in this magnificent state but, yes, as it is successful here, we’d like to immediately roll it out nationally. We’ve had discussions with RA about doing that. They would like every bit of help they can get. Rugby has been struggling in the eastern states at the community level and RugbyRoos is a great way to build community spirit.”

If a player such as All Black great Dan Carter — who has spoken openly of considering any offer from Forrest — lent his weight to RugbyRoos, as he would be contractually required to do, the program would be given a huge boost.

The program, designed to teach core rugby skills to all ages and skill levels, will be rolled out initially with the help of RugbyWA development officers and is designed to complement RA’s Get Into Rugby course.