Super Rugby Pacific in limbo: Transtasman rugby relations take another turn for the worse

NZ Rugby CEO Mark Robinson with former Rugby Australia CEO Andy Marinos. Photo / Getty

Transtasman rugby relations have taken another turn for the worse with Rugby Australia insinuating that New Zealand Rugby delayed committing to a critical agreement about the future of Super Rugby Pacific to enable chief executive Mark Robinson to go on holiday.

NZR, on the other hand, say they asked for a deadline extension to gain deeper assurances that the Australians, despite having signed the contract that locks them into Super Rugby Pacific through to 2030, are genuinely committed to the terms of the deal and not just under pressure to appease potential private equity investors.

Gregor Paul reports on the latest round of boardroom bickering which continues to leave Super Rugby Pacific in limbo with no agreement yet about its long-term future.

Those involved in trying to get NZR and RA to make a legally binding commitment that secures the long-term future of Super Rugby Pacific are wondering if they are in a saga that will never end.

There is hope that a breakthrough moment may be coming after newly installed RA chief executive Phil Waugh came to Auckland earlier this week and agreed several compromises that he has taken back to Australia to present to his board.

As the Herald understands it, Waugh has agreed that a Super Rugby commission should be set-up, with a smaller board than the original nine-person proposal and with a chief executive appointed through an independent process.

It is believed that agreement was reached on other issues which had previously been troubling RA.

In normal business circumstances this would signal that Super Rugby Pacific at last has an agreement in place to which both New Zealand and Australia will commit, but those with experience of transtasman rugby politics know that circumstances are far from normal and that nothing can be considered done in their world until the contract is signed.

Waugh still needs to persuade his board that these new arrangements are the right ones for Australia, and while this should be a formality, his predecessor, Andy Marinos, wasn’t always able to gain approval for initiatives he brought to the table.

And even then, because trust between the two nations is so low, and the process of getting to this point has been so fraught, tense and at times toxic, that even should a contract be signed next week in Melbourne, few believe it will necessarily be adhered to and that it won’t usher in a new wave of trans-Tasman harmony.

As always with transtasman rugby politics, the story of how things fell apart and have reached the point where both believe the other is devious and treacherous, differs greatly depending on who is telling it.

The mutually agreed facts are these: that a few weeks before Christmas last year, NZR and RA found short-term and long-term solutions to how they both wanted Super Rugby Pacific to be managed and how revenue would be shared.

Short term, agreement was reached when NZR said it would pay RA $7 million a year in lieu of a broadcast revenue share.

Longer term – in this case 2026 and beyond which is when both countries will have renewed broadcast deals in play – a pre-agreed revenue share formula will kick in.

Additionally, the longer-form agreement set-out plans to have an independent commission up and running this year, with a remit to drive commercial revenue, oversee rules and regulations, shape the future strategic direction of the competition, and generate fan-first initiatives.

The broad terms of the long-form deal were agreed upon, but a deadline of June 30, 2023, was put in place for final sign-off to allow both parties an opportunity to legally finesse the detail.

While there is unanimity this much is true, the events that have played out since December are open to interpretation.

New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson. Photo / photosport.nz

As the Herald reported in late May, NZR felt the prospect of the June 30 deadline being met had all but disappeared as it considered RA was reneging on many of the key components, most notably withdrawing its support to set-up an independent commission with a nine-person board directing it.

Well-placed sources told the Herald that RA went cold on the commission when NZR blocked it from appointing, without any process, former Wallaby Justin Harrison as the chief executive.

RA then wanted to downgrade the commission to a smaller, informal, operational committee and also raised other factors it no longer supported, which were believed to relate to concerns about how much control was being taken away from the national unions.

Having raised multiple concerns about the detail of the deal, and suggesting it wouldn’t commit, RA then stunned NZR when it signed the agreement before the June 30 deadline.

While that should have triggered NZR to do the same, it decided against signing until it was satisfied that RA was genuinely committed.

NZR feared RA had signed not because it was suddenly content with the arrangements, but because it was under pressure to show to potential private equity investors that it has long-term stability and certainty about where its clubs will be playing for the next seven years.

Because of this need to gain a deeper assurance about RA’s true position, NZR asked it for a month-long extension to sign the long-form document.

It wanted time to work through with RA which areas of the proposal it wasn’t happy with and to see if they could agree compromises and amendments that would set both parties up to work more effectively with one another post-signing.

RA granted them just one week, which came and went with no signed document, leading RA chair Hamish McLennan to tell the Herald: “Isn’t it ironic that Australia has been accused of dragging its feet on contractual negotiations on Super Rugby Pacific.

“RA and its Super clubs met the agreed deadline with a signed long-form contract and NZR asked for an extension.”

McLennan signed off by saying: “I hope Robbo enjoyed Noosa,” in reference to the fact the NZR chief executive enjoyed a family holiday on the Sunshine Coast in early July.

Robinson says NZR has been consistent in all of its communication with RA and has clearly stated that it has been targeting both the Super Rugby Pacific summit – a get-together of all the clubs, national union and player representatives – which was held in Auckland on July 18, and next week’s Bledisloe Cup as the two best opportunities to hammer out satisfactory terms that both parties can live with.

He said: “We’re continuing to work constructively through the issues raised by RA since what was initially agreed last year and hope to have these resolved very soon.”