John Howard, mining chief Elizabeth Gaines called in to win Rugby World Cup
Hamish McLennan has appointed a who’s who of elite advisers to turn around the code’s fortunes and help it win the 2027 World Cup.
Rugby Australia has named former prime minister John Howard and Fortescue Metals chief executive Elizabeth Gaines as advisers to help it win the 2027 World Cup and turn around the game’s fortunes.
Mr Howard and Ms Gaines will be joined on the panel by former governor-general Peter Cosgrove, former News Corporation director Rod Eddington, Qantas Loyalty boss Olivia Wirth and World Cup champion John Eales in one of the first moves by new RA chairman Hamish McLennan.
Sir Rod will chair the high-powered advisory committee.
The inclusion of Ms Gaines comes as Rugby Australia move to salve past troubles with Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest, whose Western Force team was axed from the Super Rugby competition in 2017.
Sir Rod said Ms Gaines was not sitting as anyone’s proxy but as a high-achieving executive of one of Australia’s largest resource companies. As a West Australian, she helped provide “geographic diversity,” he said.
The past two World Cups have been in the northern hemisphere, while the next tournament is scheduled for France in 2023.
Australia is the only announced contender for 2027.
“I am very conscious that the French will be hosting it in 2023 and everyone expected South Africa to win that year and they didn’t,” Sir Rod said. “If it is ours to lose, then we have to make sure that we don’t lose it. It is pretty clear what our marching orders are: to marshal all appropriate resources in Australia to make the case that the 2027 Rugby World Cup should be in Australia.”
The advisory board is one of Mr McLennan’s first acts as RA chairman after he formally took over from his predecessor, Paul McLean, at 10.05am on Monday.
The arrival of Mr McLennan, chairman of the News Corp Australia-controlled REA Group, caps a tumultuous time for Rugby Australia, which lost chief executive Raelene Castle in April after she had lost the support of the board.
RA has recently weathered controversy and legal action over the departure of former Wallaby Israel Folau, settled difficult broadcast rights negotiations with Fox Sports and found itself in a precarious financial situation because of the coronavirus crisis.
Yet as 40,000 gold-jerseyed Australian fans at last year’s World Cup in Japan demonstrated, there is also powerful if largely silent support for the game just waiting to be unleashed.
Seemingly, that was what Mr McLennan was attempting to do on Monday, tapping into the well of rugby’s most passionate and influential supporters.
But there is still much for him to achieve.
The broadcast deal for the 2021-25 cycle is still to be negotiated, yet before that can happen he must determine what next year’s competition will look like.
And that could require some heartbreaking decisions to either cut some existing Super Rugby franchises or merge them.
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