Michael Lynagh pulls out of rebel Wallaby push

Michael Lynagh has asked for his name to be removed from the list of Wallabies captains who have publicly criticised Rugby Australia

Former Wallabies captain Michael Lynagh has withdrawn from the signatories

And then there were 10. Michael Lynagh has asked for his name to be removed from the list of 11 Wallabies captains who have come out publicly in their criticism of Rugby Australia, claiming he was never properly briefed about what they were protesting about.

Lynagh last night wrote to the architect of the protest, his 1991 World Cup-winning halves partner Nick Farr-Jones, advising him he did not want to be numbered among the dissident captains.

“This is not the way I do things and I have withdrawn from the whole thing,” Lynagh told The Australian. “It doesn’t mean I don’t support the change but I had quite a few questions about what they were proposing. (Rugby Austalia) now have a new chairman and three new board members. They have got to be allowed to implement change.”

Former Australian Rugby Union boss John O’Neill also took issue with the captains’ protest, claiming that it was high time the players started to take ownership of what they were doing – or not doing – on the field.

“Poor administration? Sure,” O’Neill said. “But when will the on-field failures by players be exposed to the same sunlight. If you have winning Super Rugby and Wallaby teams on a consistent basis then administrators look OK. The nexus is so damn obvious. I oversaw a glorious period of on-field success, which made me look like a genius off-field. It’s as simple as that.”

However, the remaining 10 former Wallabies captains are standing “united and firm” in their demands for a special general meeting before next Thursday.

The Australian on Wednesday revealed the call from the Wallabies greats for the current Rugby Australia administration to “stand aside” and the pressure is set to intensify on the hierarchy if a general meeting is called.

Under Rugby Australia’s constitution, it takes two voting members to force a SGM and The Australian understands there are moves being made to convene the meeting.

The Wallabies captains include Farr-Jones, George Gregan, Stirling Mortlock, George Smith, Simon Poidevin, Stephen Moore, Jason Little, Rod McCall, Nathan Sharpe and Phil Kearns.

Kearns on Wednesday said the captains were frustrated and stated the game needed to change “quickly before it’s gone”.

“We’ve seen our ratings fall, our crowds fall, we don’t have a broadcast sponsor for next year, we’ve seen a $9.4 million loss and the Wallabies are seventh in the world now,” Kearns told Fox Sports.

“(I’ve heard) comments from sponsors, comments from broadcasters, comments from people in the game, comments from the players. That’s pretty much every stakeholder there saying the game needs to change.”

The Wallabies captains are asking for access to complete 2019 financial records and have called for more transparency.

Rugby Australia’s unaudited 2019 accounts detail a $9.4m loss – but that debt is believed to be closer to $16m, including a legal bill for work on the Israel Folau case.

The Wallabies captains have also asked for 11 reviews into rugby from over the years to be made public and a cabinet set up to implement the best recommendations of these reviews. “(We are) not just out there throwing stones,” Kearns said. “There’s a pretty good bunch of supporters and players there that know business, are not dummies and want to create that plan going forward.”

“There’s been a lot of contact with these captains over the last couple of days in particular and there’s no end of people that will look to throw money into the game if there is that change.”

Kearns was in the running for the RA chief executive role in 2017, when Raelene Castle was selected ahead of him. Despite speculation, Kearns has previously said he has not been formally approached to take up the top job if it becomes vacant soon.

Castle addressed the explosive letter in an interview late yesterday and reiterated chairman Paul McLean’s invitation for the captains to address the board.

“Those men have served their country and great Wallaby captains and they have absolutely an open invitation to come into the Rugby Australia board, share their concerns and share some of the ideas and solutions that they have,” Castle told Rugby Australia’s website rugby.com.au.

“If people have got those views, we want them to come to the table, we want them to share them with Rugby Australia and we want to work on them together to try and make sure that rugby survives into a better place in the future.”