Waratah against Brumbies cull

There is no doubting where Tom Staniforth’s loyalties now lie, not after he re-signed with the Waratahs for a further two seasons.

Tom Staniforth, second right, celebrates scoring a try for the Waratahs Picture: Getty Images

There is no doubting where Tom Staniforth’s loyalties now lie, not after he re-signed with the Waratahs for a further two seasons, but the towering lock came out swinging on Tuesday at suggestions that his original club, the Brumbies, should be axed from Super Rugby.

The proposal came from well-credentialed sports administrator David Moffett, the former CEO of NZ Rugby, SANZAR (as it was before the admission of Argentina), the NRL and the man who at the dawn of the century oversaw the reduction of Wales rugby from 12 professional teams to four.

While NZ Rugby has offered the option of a trans-Tasman competition involving between two and four Australian sides, Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan has insisted that unless Australia is allowed to field all five teams, it won’t field any.

Instead, he said, it would go its separate way, at least in 2021, and stage an all-Australian or largely-Australian competition of its own.

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Moffett’s thinking is that Australia should accept it can only be competitive with no more than three teams. While he would retain the two traditional powerhouse states, NSW and Queensland, he would award the third spot to the Western Force, on the basis that its private owner Andrew Forrest would be in a position to fund them.

On that basis, he would do away with Melbourne Rebels and, surprisingly, the most successful Australian team in Super Rugby history, the Brumbies.

It was not an argument that convinced Staniforth.

“I don’t think any Australian team will be going anywhere,” Staniforth said.

“I think it is awesome that we have as many players in Australia playing as we can. I think any sort of chat about us losing a team, I don’t think that is in the best interests of Australian rugby and Australian rugby players.

“The guys who make those decisions are well above my pay grade and whatever they have to do, they have to do but I don’t see Australian rugby losing the Brumbies. They have won two titles and they have been the benchmark team.”

Moffett’s reasoning might hold true on the ground of pure competitiveness but as Australian rugby has found out, the hard way, there are many other dimensions to culling a Super Rugby team. If the Brumbies were to be culled, it would not be a case of ACT fans switching their allegiance to NSW or Queensland. They would turn their backs on the game entirely and if they did decide to follow another team, it would likely be Canberra Raiders.

The Brumbies are the shopfront window over the entire year to the game of rugby in the ACT and southern NSW and it would have a devastating impact on junior development if the franchise closed. And so too if the Rebels were lost to Melbourne fans.

Still, as Moffett told the NZ media, he was widely criticised for slashing the number of professional teams in Wales but, based on performances at the last World Cup – where Wales defeated Australia in the pool rounds – it turned out to be the right call.

“This guy (McLennan) hasn’t been put there to take soft decisions,” he said. “Soft options are always the wrong options and that’s what they are doing now.”

The impasse over the trans-Tasman series has taken on new urgency now that RA has begun negotiating with broadcasters over next year’s competition.