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Rugby Australia issue statement as player pay cut negotiations continue to sour

(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images,)

Rugby Australia have issued a statement on their negotiations with the Rugby Union Players’ Association (RUPA) regarding a pay cut for players.

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RUPA head Justin Harrison recently claimed that Rugby Australia hadn’t been forthcoming with information regarding Australia rugby fiances, and now RA Chief Executive Raelene Castle has responded.

The statement reads: Rugby Australia Chief Executive, Raelene Castle has issued the following statement on current discussions with the Rugby Union Players’ Association (RUPA) regarding a short term pay deal to assist the code through the COVID-19 global health crisis.

“Rugby Australia yesterday announced a raft of deep cuts across the organisation that were necessary to support the game through the current global health and economic crisis caused by Coronavirus,” said Castle.

“These very difficult decisions have impacted every single employee at Rugby Australia and the Super Teams, and 75% of those employees have been stood down from their roles for a period of three months. This also equates to over a 75% savings in costs across these organisations.

“Yesterday, we commenced formal discussions with RUPA with a genuine desire to find a fair and reasonable solution on a short term pay deal with the players for the three-month period from now until June 30.

“We believe the information we have shared, including information on future cash projections, provides the players with enough information to develop a position.

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“We have entered the discussions with RUPA in good faith and look forward to continuing those discussions to reach an appropriate agreement under the current circumstances.”

New Zealand Rugby staff haven’t taken the same hit as their Australian counterparts, agreeing to a 20 per cent pay cut across the board.

The organisation confirmed more of its austerity measures to AAP on Wednesday as it combats the financial strain caused by the coronavirus pandemic

All NZ Rugby staff, including the Board and All Blacks management, have accepted the 20 per cent pay reduction which a spokesperson said would have been worse were it not for the assistance of the New Zealand Government’s wage subsidy scheme.

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– additional reporting 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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