Deal on players’ pay cut opens the way for World Rugby bailout

By seemingly doing the deal with its players, Rugby Australia has bought itself another three months of survival. Picture: Getty Images

Rugby Australia is expected to announce on Monday it has reached an agreement with its 192 professional players to cut their wages in the short-term, freeing it to turn immediately to World Rugby for its share of a $157m global bailout scheme.

World Rugby had made it clear that none of its rescue packages would be going to countries that have not sorted out their own domestic situations — as determined independently by PricewaterouseCoopers — which made it critical that RA come to an arrangement with the Rugby Union Players Association.

Australia clearly will take all the World Rugby assistance it can get, although the international governing body has made a point of not revealing to any nation seeking assistance how much aid other countries have requested or received.

It was not until April 4 that the two parties began talks, and that was only after RA handed over details of its financial position, “almost a month” after RUPA chief executive Justin Harrison claimed he had asked for them.

Even so, it has still taken more than another fortnight for an interim deal to cut player wages by between 60 and 65 per cent to be reached.

It is understood the arrangement — details of which are being kept confidential for the moment — was arrived at late last week but RUPA was given the weekend to discuss it with its members.

“World Rugby made an announcement last week about a $US100 million fund that they have made available and once we finalise arrangements with RUPA, we will be advancing discussions with World Rugby,” RA CEO Raelene Castle told The Australian on Sunday.

World Rugby has been well-appraised of Australia’s precarious financial situation and is ready to act as soon as it receives the request.

Asked on Sunday if the deal was done, World Rugby executive committee member Brett Robinson — who until last month was deputy chairman of RA — said: “Absolutely. The funds are available immediately.”

By seemingly doing the deal with its Super Rugby players, RA has bought itself another three months of survival, taking it through to the end of September. The World Rugby package should ensure it stays afloat until COVID-19 restrictions are eased and rugby is able to resume. Even if that extends no further than domestic matches involving the four Australian Super Rugby sides plus the Western Force, it still would mean that broadcast dollars once again are coursing through rugby’s veins.

Although World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont indicated on Saturday that there was “a distinct possibility” that the international rugby calendar would have to be scrapped this year because of the coronavirus, RA is proceeding with plans to stage a Bledisloe Cup series against the All Blacks in the latter half of the season. This would be in addition to the Super Rugby-Lite competition that would involve crossover finals between the top Australian and New Zealand sides.

All the talk of RA being forced into administration would appear to have been horribly misplaced, as indeed was media speculation from a month ago that Castle would survive for only another 24-48 hours before the new board members, Peter Wiggs, Brett Godfrey and Daniel Herbert, played a key role in her downfall.

Rather, all three new directors are understood to have rolled up their sleeves and worked to keep the organisation afloat since coming on board at the end of March. It may well be that once the worst of the crisis has passed, they could well force a vote on her position, although by that stage they will have sufficient time to work alongside her and draw their own conclusions on her ­performance.

It transpires that the RA board could have taken an almost-immediate decision to rid themselves of Castle at any time since her appointment in January 2017, had they chosen to do so.

There is no exorbitant Castle contract to be paid out for the simple reason that she does not have one. She is an employee and, like any employee, she can quit or she can be fired. If RA wanted her gone tomorrow, it would have to pay out no more than her notice period.

It is not the RA CEO’s position that is attracting most interest at present, but rather the chairmanship of World Rugby. At a time when rugby should be coming together to battle the coronavirus crisis, the North v South divide is being played out in the political battle for the top job between the team of Beaumont-Bernard Laporte and rival Gus Pichot of Argentina. The northern hemisphere — represented by the Six Nations — looks certain to support the British-French ticket, while the SANZAAR southern hemisphere nations have indicated they will throw their weight behind Pichot.

The fallout between Beaumont and his deputy-chairman, Pichot, had its origins in the collapse last year of the proposed World Nations Cup championship, which would have secured the financial security of all rugby-playing countries until the deal was scuttled by the greed of the Six Nations.

Given that part of the proposal was the creation of a promotion-relegation system that would have brought the Tier Two nations into The Rugby Championship and the Six Nations, one would have assumed that the disgruntled so-called “minnows” would side with Pichot.

Not so. Some backroom manoeuvring could see some of the Tier Two countries voting with the northern hemisphere bloc that took them down. Fiji, who was to have entered The Rugby Championship, looks likely to support the Beaumont-Laporte ticket.

The question now is whether Australia gets caught in the crossfire.

Pichot smoothed the path for Australia to host the 2027 World Cup — which would not only guarantee its survival but provide it with a hefty $50-60 m war chest to be held in reserve for a crisis — by announcing that Argentina would not also be bidding for the tournament.

Theoretically, that leaves Australia unopposed as the only starter, with World Rugby to make a decision towards the end of next year.

There has probably never before been a more important vote as far as rugby in this country is concerned.