Rugby Australia’s bloody boardroom battle revealed, how Hamish McLennan was speared
Hamish McLennan’s reign had been over by two minutes when the first text message appeared on his phone. Here is how Rugby Australia’s bloody boardroom battle transpired.
Rugby Australia chair Hamish McLennan’s reign had been over by two minutes when the first text message from the board members who brought him down appeared on his phone.
They expressed abject disappointment; others said they had no role in his demise; one told him not to formalise his resignation; another said “you don’t have to be done”, and willed McLennan to stay on the board as a director.
McLennan was done, with former Wallaby Dan Herbert elected chair in his place. At 9.48pm to be exact, an email from McLennan to Rugby Australia board member Pip Marlow was sent.
“Pip, Confirming I resign from the RA board immediately. Hamish McLennan.”
It capped an extraordinary 48 hours, a coup at the top of Australian rugby led by six aggrieved state unions – four considered minor rugby states – which led to an intervention of Australia’s richest man, Andrew Forrest, Nicola Forrest, former prime minister John Howard and Olympic boss John Coates. After five meetings over 48 hours, Herbert was put forward by the rest of the board as a candidate. Rugby Australia confirmed to The Australian all but McLennan voted for Herbert to take over.
It had followed a wave of negative publicity around McLennan, with allegations in the Australian Financial Review that he had been “partying in Paris” during the World Cup – which he emphatically denied – and bore the brunt of Australia’s worst-ever World Cup result where the Wallabies failed to make the quarter-finals.
The final straw was the six state/territory unions – Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and the ACT, led by QRU chair Brett Clark – that wrote to McLennan on Friday calling him “arrogant”, slammed his leadership and stated he should resign.
While McLennan was led to believe the board vote was close after his axing on Sunday, Rugby Australia confirmed on Monday it was a landslide. Still, his inbox filled up with sympathy from those he shared the board table with.
One of the first was from Marlow, the former Salesforce boss, who expressed disappointment McLennan was gone. “Am genuinely saddened by all that has occurred and hope you are OK,” she wrote. Sources close to McLennan say he is particularly disappointed by Marlow’s move against him after he had been a major supporter of hers.
The same sources say in 2020 McLennan saved Marlow from being moved from the RA board. At the time it’s understood McLennan faced pressure to move her on but he vouched for her to stay. She did.
The Australian has also learnt McLennan endorsed Marlow’s elevation to a World Rugby position, a Rugby World Cup board. When Marlow asked for a “favour” in return in September, he agreed to serve as a referee for her in her new director’s role at Car Sales. McLennan told the recruiters she was “fantastic”.
Marlow did not return The Australian’s calls for comment.
Herbert says he will work to “unify” the board. “I want unity, the systems I admire are stable, they are not up or down, they’re pretty stable,” he told The Australian on Monday.
“Sometimes we think if we just change the coach – we’ve had some of the world’s best coaches come through – it will be fixed. My view is we need to address the issues … you can’t just try and fix the top (the Wallabies) and think everything is going to be OK.”
At his first press conference in the role, the interim chair spoke of the hectic weekend and praised McLennan.
“We deliberated that over the whole weekend,” Herbert said. “(I have) a lot of admiration and respect for Hamish and what he’s done stepping into this seat when probably not many people would have done it.
“He led us through Covid and has been fundamental about the changes required, and that’s not going to change with me and the directors, we are steadfast on that. We feel that moving forward the game requires everyone to unite.
“We felt that would only be achieved with a change of chair.”
McLennan, also chairman of the REA Group, was a bold chairman. His nickname was “The Hammer”. He made a number of big moves, all wholeheartedly endorsed by the board, including by Herbert.
Herbert was overjoyed by the recruitment of coach Eddie Jones to lead the Wallabies – expressing positivity about the veteran coach’s appointment – as were many others on the board. Then there was the successful poaching of Sydney Roosters rugby league young gun Joseph Sua’ali’i, which was backed in by the entire board.
On Monday evening Sua’ali’i reached out to McLennan, thanking him for all he did and “creating an opportunity” for him. McLennan has vowed to continue to support “Joseph and his family”.
Sua’ali’i has signed a $5m, three-year deal with the Wallabies and NSW Waratahs, a figure that has infuriated some in the rugby community.
Some pundits have openly asked why the entire board is not in the gun for these big decisions that have now been roundly criticised by the rugby community. Some have suggested the whole board should resign.
The weekend showed how chaotic things can get at the top of the game.
After a wild 48 hours over Zoom, it was Marlow who fronted up on Sunday night and called McLennan to tell him there would be a vote around 8.30pm and that there was another candidate who was now in the frame and wanted to chair RA, but she didn’t disclose who.
The Australian has learnt McLennan only found out Herbert was running against him when he dialled in on Zoom in the fifth and final board meeting.
What had preceded the final blow had been 48 hours of pure boardroom chaos.
Sources close to McLennan said during this time the chairman fielded “insipid” phone calls from former allies he’d supported in business, who didn’t tell him straight up where they stood.
Instead, there were hours upon hours of debating in the boardroom on how to remove McLennan completely or demote him.
Meanwhile, the support was growing publicly via some of the most influential men and women in rugby and Australia.
The first, a formal statement released by Australia’s richest man and his former wife.
In a joint statement on Saturday Andrew and Nicola Forrest, both strong supporters of Australian rugby, having poured over $50m into the game, released a message of support for McLennan.
In the statement they backed his leadership, which had seen the 2027 World Cup secured as well as a major deal with Cadbury.
The Forrests’ message was soon followed by endorsements from Olympic boss Coates and former PM Howard. Those who had shared the boardroom with McLennan felt he was still the man to steer Australian rugby into the future.
But at the same time RA’s boardroom was in disarray and heading towards yet another meeting to discuss, yet again, McLennan’s leadership.
It had been six hours of discussion already and still no one could decide what to do “about Hamish”.
Meanwhile, The Australian understands Andrew Forrest, an ardent supporter of the game and who recently travelled to the Rugby World Cup in Paris, by Sunday was reaching out to two RA board directors, former Virgin boss Brett Godfrey and Herbert, to better his understanding of the situation.
On Monday, Herbert fronted a selected group of media over Zoom and opened up on the meeting. Observers say he was a “calm” presence after a tumultuous few months.
Confirming the appointment of a new director of high performance is at the top of the list, with Herbert stressing the importance of solidifying the system before looking at a replacement for the coaches. Herbert, who previously expressed concerns about centralisation, is now saying it’s a good thing.
But notably on Monday, Herbert said he is focused on the high-performance aspect of the game.
“I know that different people have a different view of what it looks like – but everyone acknowledges that we have to align, we have to integrate, we have to unite,” Herbert said.
“So everyone is agreeing that that has to happen, some people might have a slightly different view of that, but we can only do that when we all get in a room, because I remember when I worked in rugby that this has been put on the table. This has been put on the table a few times and, at the time, various people and various member unions had the appetite and others didn’t.
“I think now we’ve got enough history to see that it does work. Now, it doesn’t have to be a cut-and-paste of anyone else’s, it can be our own version. But the principles are the same, we actually have to work in an integrated system, we can’t work in competition with each other, which is how rugby has been run, or how professional rugby has been run. So if we can integrate, then we give ourselves a chance.”
Sources close to McLennan say he was steering the game to shoring up its financial future and that of the clubs. It’s understood an $80m loan is close to being finalised to ensure the short-term future of the game, which has been led by his contact, Michael Stock from Jefferies.
McLennan did a number of media interviews on Monday. 2GB radio host Ben Fordham expressed his surprise that McLennan had even turned up for the interview that had been planned before he was voted out.
“I gave you my word, I told you I would turn up,” McLennan said.
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