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'Easy money': Michael Cheika reveals fallout with Rugby Australia over proposed Super Rugby overhaul

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Former Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika has revealed he advocated strongly for an overhaul of the beleaguered Super Rugby competition, but did so to no avail during his time at Rugby Australia.

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Speaking on the offtheball.com podcast, Cheika said he questioned rugby authorities in Australia over their ongoing acceptance of what he described as “easy money” by expanding Super Rugby.

Since the inception of the Super 12 in 1996, the number of teams in the competition grew three times over the course of two decades, with the induction of the Western Force, Cheetahs, Melbourne Rebels, Southern Kings, Sunwolves and Jaguares making it an 18-team league by 2016.

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In conversation with Jean de Villiers

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      In conversation with Jean de Villiers

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      The majority of those sides, excluding the Rebels and Jaguares, have since been culled as the competition dwindled in quality and fan interest.

      The impending expulsion of the Sunwolves at the end of this year will see Super Rugby revert back to a 14-team format, but Cheika believes the competition needs to have a trans-Tasman focus.

      “We’ve got bigger and bigger because we wanted more TV money, more TV money,” the 2014 Super Rugby title-winning ex-Waratahs coach said.

      “The reality is we’ve had Super Rugby, it’s been losing money for all the clubs hand over foot and we’ve maintained our presence in that tournament.

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      “This is where I fell out a fair bit with Australian Rugby. A few years ago when they were making the last arrangement around what the next Super Rugby was going to look like, I was adamant about changing towards trans-Tasman, and Japan as well.”

      It’s a sentiment that is supported by former All Blacks star Andrew Mehrtens, who doubled down on Cheika’s comments on the podcast.

      “New Zealand is going to benefit ultimately from a revamped Super Rugby, and Australia will too,” the South African-born 70-cap playmaker said.

      https://www.instagram.com/p/CARNkxbgP-h/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

      “I’ve said for quite a while now that while the competition has expanded, it hasn’t expanded in a consistent or logical way.

      “It’s just added a couple of teams here and there. It went to 14, 15, then it went to 18 and dropped back down.

      “The hindrance in Super Rugby is that there are games in Argentina now, and the time zone is not great for New Zealand and Australia, the same with South Africa.

      “Not many people are watching even their own teams at 3am in the morning coming out of South Africa.”

      Since leaving his role as Wallabies loss after being unceremoniously dumped out of last year’s World Cup in the quarter-finals by England, Cheika has crossed codes to become an assistant at the NRL’s Sydney Roosters.

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      He said that rugby league’s premier club competition has made itself far more visible to Australian audiences than union via its free-to-air element, which is almost entirely absent in Australian rugby as they look to maximise their broadcast income.

      “I think we probably go for the easy money sometimes and I understand why. It’s not easy to give up that nice lollipop, that big TV money,” Cheika said.

      “As much as (Super Rugby) is a great competition, it’s not sustainable and so it’s been proven before COVID-19.”

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      Eliza Galloway 1 hour ago
      Geoff Parling: An Englishman roasting the Lions?

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      JW 1 hour ago
      James O'Connor, the Lions and the great club v country conundrum

      Lol you need to shoot your editor for that headline, even I near skipped the article.


      France simply need to go to a league format for the Brennus, that will shave two weekends of pointless knockout rugby from their season and raise the competitions standards and mystique no end.


      The under age loophole is also a easy door to shut, just remove the lower age limit. WR simply never envisioned a day were teams would target people under the age of 17 or whatever it is now, but much like with Rassie and his use of subs bench, that day was obviously always going to come. I can’t remember how football does it, I think it’s the other way around with them, you can’t sign anyone younger than that but unions can’t stop 17 or 18 yo’s from leaving for a pro club if they want to. There is a transaction that takes place of a few hundred thousand for a normal average player. I’d prefer rugby to be stricter and just keep the union bodies signoff being required.


      What really was their problem with Kite and co leaving though? Do we really need a game dominated by Internationals? I even think WR’s proposed calendar might be a bit too much, with at minimum 12 top tier games being played in the World Championship. I think 10 to 12, maybe any one player playing 10 of those 12 is the best way to think of it, for every international team is max, so that they can allow their domestic comps to shine if they want, and other nations like Japan and Fiji can, even some of the home nations maybe, and fill out their calendar with extra tours if they like them as a way to make money. As it is RA don’t have as good a pathway system, so they could simply buy back those players if they turn good. Are they worried they’ll be less likely to? We wait for baited breath for the new season to be laid out in front of us by WR.

      It could impose sanctions on the Fédération Française de Rugby, but the body which runs the Top 14 and the ProD2, the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, is entirely independent.

      It’s not independent at all. The LNR is a body under, and commissioned by, the FFR (and Government control) to mediate the clubs. FFR can simply install a new club competition if they don’t listen, then you’d see whether the players want to stay at any club who doesn’t tow the line and move to the new competition, as they obviously wouldn’t fall under the auspice of world rugby. They would be rebels, which is fine in and upon itself, but they would isolate themselves from the rest of the game and would need to be OK with that. I have no doubt whatsoever that clubs would have to and want to fall in line to remain part of the EPCR and French rugby. Probably even the last thing they would want is to compete with another French domestic competition that has all the advantages they don’t.


      All those players would do good for a few seasons in France, especially the fringe ones, with thankfully zero risk of them being poached if they turn good. New Zealand had a turn at keeping all of it’s talent, and while it upticked the competitiveness of the Super Rugby teams into a total dominance of Australian and South African counterparts (who were suffering more heavily than most the other way at that stage), it didn’t have as positive an effect on the next step up as ensuring young talents development is not hindered does. Essentially NZR flooded the locate market with players but inevitably it didn’t think the local economy could sustain any more pro teams itself, so now we are seeing a normal amount of exodus for the availability of places again. Are Australia in exactly the same footing? I think so, finances where dicey for a while perhaps but I doubt they are putting money constraints on their contracting now. It’s purely about who leaves to open up opportunity.

      62 Go to comments
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      LONG READ James O'Connor, the Lions and the great club v country conundrum James O'Connor, the Lions and the great club v country conundrum
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