Cash-poor RA goes for maximum loan from World Rugby

Rugby Australia are working on more than two dozen models to get the sport back on track.

The Wallabies could play Tests in October, November and December to recoup losses. Picture: AAP

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 but the main bones of contention have now been resolved and there are hopes of a deal being announced on Monday.

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 in Japan, the sport’s international rulers are providing a war chest of $160m to help its leading member nations get through the COVID-19 lockdown.

It is understood countries can apply for low interest loans of up to $15m and it is understood RA is intending to ask for the maximum — and 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, currently 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, it can b revealed RA is working on more than two dozen contingency plans.

There are still so many variables that the 26 scenarios — which include plans for Test rugby, Super Rugby, club rugby, women’s rugby and 7s, cover every possibility from resuming in June right 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.

Speculation is already rife that Super Rugby is as good as dead 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 profits.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH