Rugby Australia has Plan B if trans-Tasman series falls over
Rugby Australia is ready to sit down with New Zealand Rugby and map out a 2021 trans-Tasman competition.
Rugby Australia is ready on Wednesday to sit down with New Zealand Rugby and map out a 2021 trans-Tasman competition but, conversely, it is also moving to create an alternate domestic series in line with hints of interest from broadcasters.
NZR and RA had a cathartic blowout earlier this month, with current and former All Black coaches venting their spleen over spats that went back, in some cases, almost 20 years, while Australia responded with unexpected vigour, effectively telling the Kiwis that if they could not negotiate with them as equals, they would quite happily go it alone.
“That’s happening now, that’s in train now,” said RA interim chief executive Rob Clarke.
“We believe in our market and with the commercial support we have a sustainable domestic competition with the potential to expand in time is a relevant one to pursue.
“That said, we are keen if the New Zealanders are more open-minded to a partnership approach to explore with them what a trans-Tasman competition might look like. And I believe me might be able to resolve some of the concerns they have if we are able to sit around a table and talk it all through.”
Both countries will be forced to play a heavily domestic-based competition next season if they cannot reach a compromise. Super Rugby Aotearoa has been brilliant to watch but it must be taking a heavy toll of NZ players at its current ferocious level of intensity.
What must be addressed is the current imbalance in standard between NZ and Australian teams if the competition was to proceed with five franchises apiece.
Australia has proposed to make positions available in its five teams to excess Super Rugby-standard players from NZ, in the hope that the NZR relaxes All Blacks eligibility rules to enable all Kiwis to be considered for selection, irrespective of where they are based.
“It’s a concept we have already floated with them but so far we have not had a formal response,” said Clarke.
The NZR initially announced its intention to run an 8-10 team competition, with between two and four places reserved for Australia, with teams required to lodge “expressions of interest” which the Kiwis would then vet.
That did not sit well with Australia, given the relative strengths of the two economies and the fact the two countries have enjoyed a longstanding equal relationship pre-dating the creation of SANZAR in 1995. Relations were also strained by NZ making a grand production of creating room for a Pasifika side in its proposed competition, despite the idea also being strongly supported by Australia.
Still, that all falls into the “let bygones be bygones” category as far as RA is concerned, although its preference is for the Pasifika team, and perhaps a Japanese franchise to delay their entry until 2022.
While Australia is planning for talks with its Anzac partner, preparations are proceeding in parallel for an extension of the Super Rugby AU competition next season.
Fox Sports have released the audience numbers from the third round which showed that a total of 75,000 people watched the Waratahs-Brumbies while another 65,000 tuned in for the Reds-Force. Fox also revealed their streaming numbers, indicating 32,000 viewers overall watching on Foxtel Now, Go or Kayo.
The figures are down five per cent on last year, a relatively modest fall given that the SRAU competition was launched with zero fanfare, reduced live audiences and in the midst of a global pandemic. Certainly it suggests a 2021 domestic competition could have some appeal to broadcasters.
Meanwhile, news that Waratahs captain Rob Simmons is in advanced negotiations with London Irish has prompted RA to press ahead on possible reforms to the Giteau Law. As a 100-cap Test veteran, Simmons is already eligible for selection from abroad.
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