Stuck in purgatory: Brumbies boss pleads for certainty on rugby’s future

Brumbies chief executive Phil Thomson believes that the uncertainty in Australian rugby can’t be allowed to continue.

There is speculation Tevita Kuridrani could leave the Brumbies at the end of the year.

Brumbies chief executive Phil Thomson believes the uncertainty in Australian rugby can’t be allowed to continue, insisting all Super Rugby franchises, their players and supporters need some sort of answer by August.

While the Rugby Australia board was in a Zoom session on Monday under new chairman Hamish McLennan, hearing reports from its administrative staff about ongoing plans for the 2021 season, the strain of the uncertainty is beginning to tell on all involved in Super Rugby.

A decision has to be made within “four to six weeks”, according to Thomson, on what sort of competition Australia will be involved in next season and, more importantly, whether three, four or five franchises will be required.

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“It has got to come fast or none of us will survive because we all need some certainty around what 2021 looks like,” Thomson told The Australian.

“From our corporates, to our members wanting to be involved but not knowing what they are going to be involved in. And no one is going to put their hands in their pocket until they know what they are going to be involved in.”

Thomson admitted “the clock is ticking”, especially for players. At present, they have the rebooted Super Rugby AU competition to occupy their minds but as the September 30 deadline rolls around, at which point the Rugby Union Players Association agreement with RA for an average 60 per cent pay cut expires, players’ anxiety levels will begin rising dramatically.

Even those who want to remain in Australia to help with the rebuilding of the game will need something solid to hold on to. A signed broadcast deal that delivers something close to the pay levels they have become used to would certainly help but that seems a long way off.

It may well be that New Zealand’s price for going ahead with a trans-Tasman competition will be to demand that Australia cut its five professional provincial sides back to four or even three. Yet that decision may well be forced on to RA without any external pressure.

The last broadcast deal, signed in 2015, catered for what was then five Super Rugby sides — subsequently cut to four when the Western Force were culled in 2017. But if the broadcast rights sell for considerably less this time, the only way RA might be able to maintain current wage rates will be to reduce the number of ways the money is divided.

That has prompted speculation the Brumbies and the Melbourne Rebels could be merged — an outcome both clubs intensely oppose — but options are running out fast.

Players generally appear to be giving administrators time to make their decisions although there was one confirmed departure on Monday, with Wallabies prop Jermaine Ainsley confirmed as a Highlanders prop next season.

In other news, the Waratahs have secured the services of Australian under-20 coach Jason Gilmore as defence coach for the Super Rugby AU season. He takes over from former NRL star Phil Bailey who was part-time with NSW earlier this season but was officially let go by the Tahs during the coronavirus shutdown.

Gilmore admitted that with the under-20s program still up in the air, it filled a gap being asked to work with the Waratahs.

“This year the Junior World Cup and the Oceania tournament have been cancelled so we are waiting to see if we can play one or two games against the Kiwis if the Bledisloe Cup Tests get up and running,” Gilmore said.