Rugby Australia (RA), the Australian Super Rugby Clubs, Member Unions and the Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) have together announced a 'historic strategic reset' of the game in Australia.
The joint announcement will see the game move towards a centralised system across Super Rugby, Super W and national programs, with a national contracting model set to be implemented ahead of the 2025 season
Watch every game of the Rugby World Cup LIVE on Stan Sport. Start watching Stan Sport now.
The changes will see RA lead the National High-Performance Plan and system, which includes national pathways and development programs, National Teams across XVs and Sevens and contracting players and key high-performance staff within Super Rugby Pacific, Super W and national programs.
Meanwhile, the clubs will be responsible for local talent development and pathways as well as the delivery of Super Rugby Pacific and Super W programs aligned with the plan as the Member Unions focus on the delivery of the community game.
The designed benefits include:
- Improving results for Super Rugby clubs across Super Rugby Pacific, Super W and national teams during the 'golden decade'
- Increased investment in Women's Rugby, focusing on the high performance and sustainable growth in player payments
- Retain and attract the best players, coaches and officials in Australia
- Drives focus on, and investment in the Community game – particularly with the expected surge in engagement and participation numbers following the Lions Tour and Rugby World Cups
- Improve commercial performance of Super Rugby Clubs and streamline the governance of professional Rugby.
“Together, we need to change our collective approach to ensure that Rugby in Australia can prosper, on and off the field – from the heartbeat of our game at the grassroots right through to our Wallabies, Wallaroos and Sevens teams," RA CEO Phil Waugh said in a statement that quoted all five Super Rugby clubs Chairmans and RUPA
“We firmly believe that strategic structural change is required if we are to deliver success for the game in the future – particularly with the pipeline of major Rugby events happening in our backyard through to 2032.
“This is a significant project and needs to be done through a spirit of partnership across Australian Rugby, motivated by the collective desire to ensure we are winning on the field and ensuring that we are sustainable and able to grow off it.
“The implementation of this model cannot be a one-size-fits-all model, and needs to reflect the specifics of each Super Rugby Club, Member Union and their markets.
“It will take time to successfully deliver this project, however we intend to formally commence work on rolling it out over the coming weeks, with a plan to methodically work through the process with our many stakeholders.
“With the many exciting events on the horizon for Australian Rugby, it is important that we take this opportunity to really set up our system, and our Clubs to be more successful, and drive the game forward at all levels.”
