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'No assurances': Australian players continue to remain in the dark over COVID-19 financial situation

(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

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Australia’s Super Rugby clubs plan to lean on emergency JobKeeper funding as the code braces for a three-month survival period and its players remain in the dark on their financial situation.

Rugby Australia will stand down 75 percent of its staff from Wednesday until May 1 as it braces for a potential $120 million COVID-19 hit.

The players’ union met with RA on Tuesday but was again left wanting more, representative Justin Harrison saying financial details requested three weeks ago were yet to be seen.

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“Although RA provided no assurances, RUPA looks forward to the opportunity to assess that information in the near future,” Harrison said.

They are prepared to take a hit similar to RA chief executive Raelene Castle’s 50 percent salary sacrifice, while about 100 RA staff and those at Australia’s four Super Rugby clubs also faced uncertain times.

The NSW Waratahs will reportedly stand down 70 percent of their staff, while the Melbourne Rebels will either stand down or reduce the hours of all their employees.

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The Brumbies and Queensland Reds hope to action the $750 per week government JobKeeper scheme announced on Monday to keep all staff on in a part-time capacity, or full-time at a reduced rate.

RA staff are likely to be eligible for the same payment, while they will all return to work if Super Rugby fixtures and July’s Test program against Ireland and Fiji are given the green light.

“The JobKeeper program … that’s given us the ability to keep, at this point, everyone in a job,” Queensland Rugby Union chief executive David Hanham said.

“What I’ve heard from our passionate staff today is that they want to work and serve rugby and assist the QRU through this global crisis.

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“We’ve been in existence for 138 years, we’re not going anywhere.

“But I do think as a code, once we pop our head out of this storm, we have a good opportunity to look at what reform and innovation we need to make our sport smarter, stronger, more aligned and more effective.”

Hanham forecast a loss in revenue of about $15 million for the Reds in the next six-to-eight months.

– AAP

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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