u/Ruck_Off

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The judge hearing the landmark lawsuit brought by the directors of the now-defunct Victorian Super Rugby franchise against Rugby Australia has warned both sides to settle the case before reputations are ruined and costs blow out.

Justice Cameron Moore began the second day of the Federal Court trial into whether RA unfairly withdrew financial support from the club in 2024 by issuing a message to the Melbourne Rebels directors and to the sport’s governing body.

“This is directed at the parties. We are embarking on a three-week trial in which millions of dollars will be spent,” Moore said.

“There’ll be cross-examination of witnesses. Credit will be an issue, all dealing with differing versions of the history of events over the previous number of years.

“It’s not too late to resolve these proceedings. The parties should consider that actively.”

Moore then said that if any party wanted the court to provide a registrar to help mediate the matter, he was happy to help make those arrangements.

“I’m also happy to adjourn if anyone wants to ask for some time within reason, and subject to being satisfied the trial will complete within time.”

The warning appeared to have little effect on Tuesday as both sides maintained their cases.

The Rebels directors allege that RA drew up a secret plan to preference the development of the sport in its traditional heartland of NSW, Queensland and the ACT.

The Rebels allege this plan, known as the Winning Rugby proposal, provided emergency financial assistance to the ACT’s Brumbies team and the NSW Waratahs.

Not all states are equal: The secret ‘seismic’ plan to reshape rugby

A who’s who of high-profile witnesses are expected to be grilled over their recollection of events including RA boss Phil Waugh and former Rebels president Paul Docherty, who was declared bankrupt in 2025.

The Rebels collapsed into administration in January 2024 under the weight of $23 million in debt including an $11.5 million tax bill and $6 million owing to its directors. RA stripped the club of its licence in May that year.

RA has long held that its reason for not supporting the Rebels in the same way was due to the alleged financial mismanagement of the club and that it never implemented the Winning Rugby plan.

RA has previously argued administrators alleged the club had been trading while insolvent since 2018, and it was not kept fully abreast of the state of the club’s tax troubles after it failed to pass on money it collected from staff wages to the Tax Office.

Despite the strong warning from the bench, no party sought an adjournment and the case continued with the second half of the Rebels’ opening arguments throughout Tuesday.

Rebels counsel Bernard Quinn, KC, told the court that RA had continually misled the directors of the club over the course of the second half of 2023.

This included RA abandoning a plan to obtain funding from private equity and instead moving to raise new debt to rescue only the ACT Brumbies and the NSW Waratahs – and not the Rebels.

The court heard that the decision to rescue those clubs was part of the Winning Rugby plan to centralise the best players in the three east coast teams (the Brumbies, the Reds and the Waratahs) to improve the performance of the lacklustre Wallabies squad.

Rugby Australia killed Melbourne’s Super Rugby team

Under the plan, the Rebels would not be a home for Wallabies players and instead merge with the struggling NZ-based team Moana Pasifika.

Quinn then took the judge through the Winning Rugby document, leading to questions from the judge, who seemed baffled about RA’s plan.

“What does this waffle mean?” Moore asked after reading RA’s Winning Rugby document.

Quinn responded: “We’ll probably ask Mr Waugh [when he gives evidence], I suspect, and others.”

The judge then asked Quinn how RA planned to concentrate the best players in the competition into three teams if there were more than three teams in the competition.

“The way you concentrate is to dissolve a club – because those players go to the other markets,” Quinn said.

“So, if you want your best players into clubs, you don’t want other clubs competing for players. It’s the only way to do it. Otherwise, they’ve got to go off overseas.

“The other way might be throwing money at those clubs, but not others, to ensure that you’ve got that talent being attracted, but there are no other ways.”

Moore later asked Quinn: “So you say that every club was supposed to be focused on excellence, except the Rebels in effect.”

“Yes,” Quinn replied.

RA is expected to start its opening submissions on Wednesday morning. The case continues.

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Former Wallabies coach John Connolly believes rugby must change its ways or the game will “die in this part of the world” despite next year’s World Cup on Australian shores.

Off the back of a soldout NRL Magic Round and the rise of AFL, Connolly has real fears for the game’s survival. The title-winning former Reds coach, who helped bring through Wallabies greats John Eales and Tim Horan, believes the game has become boring.

“I reckon next year when they go down to 10 teams in (Super) rugby, hopefully it’ll be home and away, hopefully there’ll be law changes, and if we’re not smart, rugby will die in this part of the world compared to the northern hemisphere,” said Connolly, who was a national selector at the 1991 World Cup before taking the reins ahead of the 2007 tournament.

“Rugby league and Australian rules are taking over the hearts and minds of people. The (rugby) crowds in the last 15 years have gone through the floor.”

In particular, Connolly stressed that rugby officials had to make the game “more attractive” and move away from the incessant rolling mauls, pick-and-drives and box kicks that are regularly deployed tactics in the modern game.

“I get bored watching it,” said Connolly, who specialised in forward play as a coach. “Penalty, kick to the corner, drive it over. Rinse and repeat. Get within four or five metres, pick and go each side, pick and go each side, and you get bored watching it.

“We need World Rugby sign-off for more changes, which we’ve done in the past. Things like tries within the 10 metres, the pick-and-go tries, should only be worth two points. Driving from lineouts should be limited to four men in the lineout. If we don’t make those changes and make it attractive to the fans, then rugby will struggle. It really will. It was evident watching this Magic Round.”

Connolly’s cries will likely be laughed at by those in the north, with French and South African officials at World Rugby meetings this year accusing those in Australia and New Zealand of trying to depower the scrum.

“There are different situations in the north and the south, their problems are different to ours,” said Connolly, who has coached in France and England.

He also argued Super Rugby Pacific needed to return to a home-and-away competition, especially with Moana Pasifika set to be dissolved after failing to secure enough financial support. “It has to be home-and-away because it’s perceived as a Mickey Mouse competition,” he said. “We played each other twice in Australia and only met the Kiwis once. That’s not a fair-dinkum competition.”

The Australian understands the competition could move from 14 rounds to 16 rounds, with Australian sides twice playing each other, Fiji and three of New Zealand’s teams, as well as the two other Kiwi sides once. A conference system, where the top two in Australia and Fiji and the top two in New Zealand, could also make up a four-team finals series.

It’s understood the move is being pushed by broadcasters, who believe it could revitalise an increasingly New Zealand-dominated competition. The top four spots in this year’s ladder are made up by New Zealand franchises.

As officials on Tuesday celebrated the 500-day milestone until the World Cup kicking off in Perth next year, Connolly said he believed the Wallabies, who won just five of 15 Tests in 2025, needed to expand their game under incoming coach Les Kiss, who will take over from Joe Schmidt after the three Nations Championship fixtures in July.

“You know how Australia plays,” Connolly said. “It’s off the blind, box kicks, and their whole premise is to hold on to possession without taking any risks. Teams know that. We’re so predictable with how we play the game, and other teams are not fools and they’ve cottoned on. So we’ve got to change how we play because we’ve become too predictable.”

However, Brad Thorn, the game’s greatest cross-code star, said he believed some progress had been made despite the Wallabies’ fade at the end of last year, where they lost seven of their last eight Tests.

“I think last year was a really good result with the Lions,” said Thorn, who won the Rugby World Cup in 2011 with the All Blacks after his 2007 move from the Brisbane Broncos, where he won three titles and a Super League crown.

“But it was a long season (for the Wallabies). There were a lot of younger guys and by the time they went on the end-of-year tour, they were pretty fatigued – and most of that would have been mentally. I remember playing the Springboks in 2009 after the Lions series, and the Tests weren’t the same intensity; it takes it out of you mentally.

“So I wouldn’t feel too negative about last year, I think there was a lot of positivity with how they played against the Lions, winning games in South Africa, and they were fatigued at the end, and the tour was a step too far.”

Connolly said he was particularly concerned by the lack of depth in the front-row and uncertainty in the backs. “We’re at home, so that’s good,” he said. “If we get everything right, we can be competitive. But we haven’t sorted out the halves or centres.”

Kiss should consider accelerating the development of Super Rugby rookies Reds utility back Treyvon Pritchard, 19, and Waratahs outside back Sid Harvey, 20, who both could feature at the World Cup, he added. “I wouldn’t muck around. You bring them into the Wallabies now and take them on the end-of-season tour. They’re potentially really good players.”

One youngster who will be given every chance to feature at next year’s World Cup is Tom Lynagh, who’s believed to have recently signed a one-year contract.

The short-term deal comes after an injury-plagued nine months for the rising Wallabies playmaker, who started in all three Tests against the Lions last year. He has played just twice since last September. “I want to be part of the World Cup; that’s a massive factor,” Lynagh, 23, said on Tuesday. “It’s been really tough ... what I’m dealing with right now. I’m striving to get out there ...”

His decision to recommit will likely result in fellow playmaker Harry McLaughlin-Phillips leaving the Reds, with the Force his most likely destination.

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The directors of Melbourne’s Super Rugby team thought the competition would rise from the ashes after COVID-19 with the support of Rugby Australia only to later learn they had no role in the future of the sport.

The bold claim about how the Melbourne Rebels rugby club was quietly knifed by the sport’s administrative body was made on the first day of a Federal Court trial to decide whether RA acted unfairly by withdrawing support for the club during its 2024 financial collapse.

The case is expected to offer a glimpse into the inner workings of one of the country’s most powerful sporting governing bodies, shedding new light on why RA chose to provide emergency funding to NSW Super Rugby team the Waratahs and the ACT’s Brumbies.

RA’s top brass including current chief Phil Waugh and former boss Andy Marinos are expected to provide evidence in the case. Rebels president Paul Docherty, who declared bankruptcy in 2025, is also expected to give evidence.

Opening the case for the Rebels before a packed courtroom in Melbourne, counsel Bernard Quinn, KC, said the Rebels’ directors had believed all the clubs in the competition had a good relationship with RA, one built on the common goal of the competition recovering after the pandemic led to cancellation of games and financial devastation for clubs.

“An atmosphere was generated, which perhaps had not been seen in the years before COVID, of a common purpose of collaboration, trust and confidence,” Quinn said.

“And that was … clearly, to raise from the ashes, nurture and develop a Super Rugby competition.

“The case will focus on the fracture of that active collaborative trust by Rugby Australia.”

Quinn said the directors had no idea that months earlier, in July 2023, RA had put in place a plan to preference the development of the sport in its traditional heartland of NSW, Queensland and the ACT.

The “Winning Rugby” plan, endorsed by the RA board, outlined a recasting of the sport to improve the patchy performance of the national squad. Under the strategy, the competition would be restructured to prioritise the financial survival and performance of three key east coast teams – the Waratahs, the Brumbies and the Reds.

Quinn told the court that the document would show that RA made the call to strip the Rebels franchise of its licence at a time when the directors were operating under the belief they had the ongoing support of the sport’s governing body.

“The essence of that policy was not disclosed to any of the clubs, including Rebels,” he said.

“And no one within Rebels knew what had specifically evolved until after this case had commenced. “It took litigation to get to the truth.”

The Rebels were stripped of their licence by RA in 2024, months after the club entered administration under the weight of about $23 million in debt, including $11.5 million owing to the Tax Office and another $6 million to members of the club’s high-profile board.

RA is defending the claim and is expected to present its case on Tuesday.

RA has long argued the Rebels’ dire financial position was a driver of its decision to withdraw support in late 2023 and not its plan to reshape the league.

It has pointed to the fact the club was alleged to have been trading while insolvent since 2018, as revealed by this masthead.

RA has also argued it was not kept fully abreast of the state of the club’s tax troubles, which included the directors of the club receiving director penalty notices holding them personally liable for the tax debts of the club.

Earlier in the hearing the Rebels directors applied to discontinue a separate legal bid brought against the person and firm overseeing the club’s administration to set aside the tax bill against the club, because the issue would be resolved in the substantive proceeding.

After a short recess, the court heard the parties had agreed to dismiss the directors’ case against the deed administrator, but the parties were still finalising the agreement.

The case continues.

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At almost $2000, it is comfortably the most expensive single ticket in Australian footy history.

But the head of the 2027 World Cup says the hefty price for a category one seat at the final at Accor Stadium next year – $1950 – is a fair cost for a premium event, and helps unlock more affordable tickets at other World Cup games, too.

The next stage of ticket sales for the 2027 World Cup begins on Tuesday, when the “Application Phase” begins. It follows the sale of the first 750,000 tickets in controversial pre-sales stage in February.

The chaotic pre-sale prompted backlash from angry fans, who suffered 10-hour waits and system crashes on the overwhelmed World Cup ticketing website

There shouldn’t be any reason for similar drama in the second ticket sale phase. Fans are being told there’s no rush; they have two weeks to apply for their ticket choices and there is no “first in, first served” preference. If games are oversubscribed, a ballot system is used.

Some ticket prices to the big games may still raise the hackles of a few fans, however.

In what represents as the most expensive single ticket at a World Cup (and not counting hospitality packages) since the inaugural tournament in 1987, the top-priced category one ticket for the final on November 13 at Accor Stadium is $1950.

It is almost $400 more than the 2023 World Cup final in Paris, and $600 more than the 2019 decider. The most expensive ticket to the 2003 World Cup final in Australia, at the same venue, was $450; which is cheaper than a category four ticket in 2027.

It’s not quite Australia’s most expensive sporting ticket – that mantle is held by the courtside seats at the men’s final of the Australian Open tennis tournament. Those tickets for the 2026 final began at $2400 and quickly shot up to over $9000 under a dynamic pricing system (where prices are adjusted according to demand).

But the World Cup’s $1950 ticket still dwarfs the most expensive seat-only tickets at State of Origin ($509), the NRL grand final ($409) and the AFL grand final ($515), and even VIP tickets at the Formula One ($1045) and recent tours of Taylor Swift ($1295) and Oasis ($1100).

The most expensive tickets to see the FIFA Women’s World Cup final in 2023, and the Asian Cup final this year, at Accor Stadium were in the $150 range.

“We looked at various benchmarks across different events and different sports, and developed the pricing strategy that we came up with,” Rugby World Cup 2027 managing director Chris Stanley said.

“There’s a lot of work that goes into developing our ticketing strategy, and we’re really keen to provide as many tickets as we could at the bottom end. We had originally a million tickets under a hundred bucks, which obviously sold a lot of those in the pre-sale.

“So, to make it accessible, like all major events, there is an element where you have to charge more at the top end.”

The most expensive ticket in Australian sport: watching Carlos Alcaraz win the Australian Open from a courtside seat.Eddie Jim

The 2027 World Cup isn’t using the controversial dynamic pricing system, which also led to tickets for the FIFA World Cup final in the US in July soaring as high as $46,000.

Big pool games featuring Australia, England, Ireland and New Zealand have the highest ticket prices, and category one tickets are $890 or higher from the quarter-finals on.

But World Cup organisers also sought to provide far more tickets at “affordable” prices in 2027, with a million tickets – or 30 per cent of the total 2.5 million – costing less than $100. The cheapest seats are $20 for a child and $40 for an adult in multiple venues.

Lowest category tickets for Wallabies games and early play-offs are also available from $65, and the cheapest ticket to attend the final is $175.

Stanley said money raised at men’s World Cups is the main source of revenue for World Rugby “which then goes back into the game” over the next four years.

“So it’s getting that balance right from the higher-end tickets all the way down to the bottom and making sure we pitch it right for every match,” he said.

World Rugby and Rugby Australia are co-hosting the 2027 World Cup in a new joint venture model that eliminates financial risk for the host nation. RA will get a flat fee of $100 million.

Stanley said World Rugby was “blown away” by the interest in the pre-sale phase, in which fans from 135 countries bought tickets.

Stanley said supporters could opt to use a new “All Out Advantage” feature in their ticket application, whereby a fan can secure tickets in a higher or lower category if they miss out with their original order.

A third and final general sale of remaining tickets held at the end of the year, Stanley said.

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There were just four games in Round 14 of Super Rugby Pacific, three of which were won in a canter.

The Waratahs' upset win in Fiji over the Drua was the pick of those, while the Hurricanes continued their scintillating form by crushing the Blues, and the Chiefs made light work of the Highlanders.

The Force meanwhile continued their late-season revival, beating the Reds for the second time in 2026.

AUSSIE TEAMS ARE ALL AT THE SAME LEVEL - SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE WALLABIES?

This year's Super Rugby Pacific ladder can be broken down into three distinct tiers. Up top, the Hurricanes and Chiefs are, and have been all season, a clear cut above. Unless something strange happens in the playoffs, the two Kiwi front-runners will contest the final and what a final it would be.

The Crusaders are the team most likely to spring a semifinal upset and have their final two games of the regular season at home beforehand to build further momentum. With Will Jordan and potentially Scott Barrett to come back, their title defence is not done just yet.

But with six wins, two fewer than the Blues, and with losses to the Brumbies, Reds and Force, it certainly hasn't been a vintage season from the 13-time champions. And as for the Aucklanders? They are limping to the finish, with an out-of-sorts Beauden Barrett now having serious questions applied to his All Blacks future.

And so they can be grouped with the four Aussie teams, alongside the Highlanders and Fijian Drua, who were heavy losers to the Chiefs and Waratahs respectively in Round 14. With the bye to come in the final round, the Highlanders' season is effectively over, while the Drua face two tough away games in Perth and Brisbane. They too look done.

And while Moana Pasifika reportedly still have parties attempting to keep them alive beyond this season, they are without a win since Round 1. Moana sit alone at the bottom in their own world of hurt.

So what does one make of the Australian teams, the Brumbies, Reds, Waratahs and Force, then?

In a curious turn of events, they have virtually cannibalised each other all year. The Reds have done the double over the Brumbies and Waratahs; the Force swept the Reds and may yet do the same to the Waratahs; while NSW can do that to the ACT with a win on Friday night. And the Brumbies beat the Force both home and away. Chaos.

The big question is, then: what does this mean for the Wallabies and Joe Schmidt's final three games in charge?

Is it better to have one standout team and pick a majority of players from it -- the Brumbies had six players in Australia's starting XV against Fiji last year after finishing third in Super Rugby - or cobble together a run-on side from four teams that have essentially performed at largely the same level?

Sure, existing combinations must still be considered, while none of Australia's teams have performed with the set-piece quality they would have liked; the Reds' lineout, meanwhile, has been truly woeful.

It has therefore set the stage for one of the more intriguing buildups to Australia's first Test of the season, against Ireland in Sydney, particularly with overseas stars Angus Bell, Len Ikitau, Tom Hooper, Noah Lolesio and Taniela Tupou, also available for selection.

There will be genuine selection discussion in every position.

HEARTBREAK FOR TANGITAU

If there was one player deserving of a Test debut in 2026, it was the Highlanders Caleb Tangitau. Unfortunately, the winger will now have to wait until 2027 at least, after he tore his Achilles late in the Highlanders' 42-12 defeat by the Chiefs.

Tangitau came through the New Zealand sevens system before exploding onto the Super Rugby scene last year and was thought to be close to an All Blacks callup for last year's northern tour. He was instead named in the All Blacks XV.

But his form for the Highlanders in 2026 had been undeniable, and with other outside back contenders heading overseas, namely Fehi Fineanganofo and Sevu Reece, Tangitau was understood to be under serious consideration by incoming All Blacks boss Dave Rennie.

Sadly, his quest for black jersey will have to wait another year.

FINEANGANOFO ON THE CUSP OF HISTORY

While we're on the subject of New Zealand wingers, the Super Rugby season try-scoring record is poised to be broken, maybe as early as Round 15, after Hurricanes flyer Fehi Fineanganofo scored his 16th five-pointer of the season.

Fineanganofo joined Joe Roff and Ben Lam who set the mark in 1997 and 2018 respectively when he crossed early in the second half of the Hurricanes' crushing win over the Blues in Auckland, albeit after he had thrown what looked to be a clear forward pass only moments earlier.

The winger's ball to replacement back-rower Brayden Iose was not just forward, but forward out of the hands, yet still drew no action from the officials.

"They're [Hurricanes] a good team, but they don't need help from the officials," Blues coach Vern Cotter said when asked later about a couple of calls. "At times, there were some things that didn't go our way and some things that we created that made it difficult for ourselves as well," he said.

"I just think when a team is on top of the table, quite often they get the 50-50s."

With two further games to go in the regular season, and then potentially three finals matches, Fineanganofo could foreseeably run up a total of 20 tries by the end of the year, such is the Canes' attacking quality.

Signed by Newcastle to play in the English Premiership next season, Fineanganofo may have however cost himself an All Blacks berth by doing so, particularly with Tangitau now gone for the season.

WARATAHS FIND THEIR MOJO IN FIJI AFTER YOUNG HALVES DELIVER

NSW coach Dan McKellar will have had a mixed flight home from Fiji on Sunday, after his side turned in a stunning first-half performance against the Drua before going onto win 50-35 in Suva.

McKellar was clearly delighted with his team's effort as they kept their finals hopes alive for another week, but with four hours to ponder the season as a whole must have cursed the fact such a performance had been an outlier and not the norm.

The 15-point win will have thrown up some interesting selection decisions for McKellar, too, after young halves Teddy Wilson and Jack Bowen were at the crux of the Waratahs' first-half onslaught alongside Kiwi hooker Ioane Moananu.

Teddy Wilson was one of the Waratahs' best in their surprise win over the Drua Pita Simpson/Getty Images

Wilson's delivery and running game around the edges was first rate, while Bowen kicked astutely, and generally didn't overplay his hand at No. 10; the fly-half's finest moment a deft grubber in behind the Drua defence that resulted in a try to Max Jorgensen.

Having lost star centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to hamstring tightness in the leadup, this was a win when NSW had also overcome additional adversity.

So, what does McKellar do now? Stick with the same starting side who annihilated the Drua in the first 40, or bring back the experienced duo of Jake Gordon and Jack Debreczeni for what looms as a season-defining clash with the Brumbies?

McKellar's decision will be telling - and give an insight into his thinking for next season. Meanwhile out west, Max Burey's performance for the Force in their win over the Reds should also give hope to NSW fans for next season.

Moananu with a silky pass for the 'TahsBeautiful work from Ioane Moananu finished off by Harry Potter to give the Waratahs the perfect start against Fijian Drua.

CAMPBELL SHOULD BE IN WALLABIES RECKONING

Queensland's hopes of a home final in the first week of the playoffs officially came to an end with a 19-14 defeat by the Force in Perth, where they were again left to lament a truly dreadful lineout.

A team that wins just 57% of its own lineout ball will always struggle to win.

That inability to win their own set-piece left the Reds struggling to control possession and territory and they were eventually squeezed out of the contest by the Force in much the same fashion as the Waratahs had been a fortnight earlier.

There were still a couple of notable performances from Reds players however, and none more so than Jock Campbell, who has been a threat at fullback all season.

Still to confirm his future beyond this season, Campbell has been the form fullback in Australian rugby this year, with incumbent Wallabies custodian Tom Wright just a few games into his comeback from an ACL injury.

Campbell's last two contracts have been for one season alone; the difference this time is that Reds coach Les Kiss will soon become the Wallabies boss, too. If Campbell re-signs in the coming weeks, take it as given that Kiss has told him he is in his Wallabies planning.

On the strength of his form this season, Campbell certainly deserves to add to his four Test caps.

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Australia centre Len Ikitau says he would like to return to Exeter in the future.

The 27-year-old is on a one-season deal at Sandy Park before he returns home to the Brumbies ahead of the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

Regarded as one of the premier centres in world rugby, Ikitau has scored two tries in an injury-hit spell at Exeter - he missed four months after needing shoulder surgery in December.

"I think looking towards the end of 2027, there's a potential chance of coming back if everything falls into place," he told BBC Sport.

"I've loved my time here and I've really enjoyed it, my family's enjoyed it and hopefully this isn't the end."

Exeter are the subject of a possible takeover by the owners of Premier League football side AFC Bournemouth as the Prem moves towards a franchise model.

Ikitau says talks are ongoing between his representatives and Exeter boss Rob Baxter as he looks to the future, having played just eight times since his move last autumn due to the shoulder injury.

"I think it's just been going on behind the scenes with my manager," he added.

"Obviously I told him how much I've really enjoyed my time here and that if there was any possibility of coming back, would he look into it

"So I guess it's just kind of sitting back and waiting to be honest and hoping that everything falls into place."

Waratahs coach Dan McKellar has admitted his team was "bullied" after the Force won 20-17 in Sydney.

Waratahs coach Dan McKellar has confirmed all three of his playmakers are fighting for their futures over the next three games.

As revealed by Code Sports this week, NSW’s three No.10s – Jack Debreczeni, Jack Bowen and Lawson Creighton – are all off contract at the end of the season.

The struggling Tahs have mixed and matched the trio throughout the year with limited success, and McKellar has now turned to Bowen for his first start of the season against Fijian Drua in Suva on Saturday in a must-win clash.

It’s extremely rare that a major club such as the Tahs wouldn’t have a recognised No.10 already signed for the following year this late in a Super Rugby Pacific season.

“That’s where myself and BJ Mather, the general manager, need to work together to make those decisions at the right time, but we’ll manage that in the background,” McKellar said.

“It always comes down to performance. There’s no doubt.

“And for some of them, they had to be patient to wait for the opportunity to play. So, yes, it’ll come down to performance and it’s a great opportunity for a number of boys.”

The Queensland Reds have Carter Gordon signed until 2028, and are about to re-sign Tom Lynagh. The Brumbies have Declan Meredith and Tane Edmed contracted for next year. And the Force have Ben Donaldson, while they’re also in talks with Reds playmaker Harry McLaughlin-Phillips.

NSW did sign Western Force utility Max Burey earlier this season, and he could fill in at five-eighth, but it’s hardly shouting premiership ambitions for 2027.

Veteran Debreczeni, 32, has yet to confirm if he wants to play on next year.

The Tahs face Drua, the Brumbies and Force in the final three rounds of the regular season, and must win all three, and have other results fall in their favour, to make the top six playoffs.

Bowen has either played off the bench or missed out altogether this season, but now starts in the most important game of the campaign.

It’s a familiar for the 22-year-old, who over the past three seasons has trodden a similar path of being ignored early in the season, and then given the No.10 jersey late on.

“I think he’s a really good young rugby player who needs more rugby,” McKellar said.

“He’s probably a great example of conversations we’ve had previously where Jack just needs to play 80 minutes at the highest level that he possibly can and learn his craft. Skill-set wise, kicking game, catch pass, vision, seeing the picture, very good.

“His game management is something we’ve worked hard on him with since we’ve been in the building.

“But he showed at Shute Shield level that he’s head and shoulders above at that level now. But he just needs rugby.

“So he’s got a future, there’s no doubt, Bowie. It’s just making sure that he’s getting as much rugby as he can. And we need to think outside the square there over the next sort of six months.

“He’s a good rugby player with a bright future. So he’s got an opportunity now over the next couple of weeks to push his claim.”

The Tahs have made a staggering eight changes from last weekend’s loss to the Highlanders, four of them forced by injury.

Backrower Pete Samu (knee), hookers Ethan Dobbins (foot) and Folau Fainga’a (knee), and lock Angus Blyth (ankle) have been ruled out for at least two weeks, with Dobbins set to miss the rest of the season.

Ioane Moananu stats at hooker, with Randwick’s Oniti Finau set to earn his Super debut off the bench.

Following the long return trip to Dunedin and now Suva, McKellar has dropped Debreczeni and Sid Harvey to the bench, while halfback Jake Gordon is being rested under Wallabies protocol.

Bowen forms a halves partnership with Teddy Wilson, while Creighton partners Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii in the centres.

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Australian rugby is in danger of losing its hottest rising star to the PNG Chiefs, with teenage sensation Treyvon Pritchard a priority target for the NRL’s cashed-up new club.

And the expansion franchise won’t be stopping at poaching the hugely talented Reds rookie – the Chiefs are looking to make it a family package by also signing his older brother, rising Brumbies centre Kadin Pritchard.

This masthead can reveal the Pritchard brothers met with PNG Chiefs officials in Brisbane on Tuesday, where the new league club laid out its pitch for Treyvon, 19, and Kadin, 21, to join the inaugural Chiefs roster in 2028.

With much of the NRL player pool off-limits to the PNG club until November 1, when players coming off contract in 2027 are free to negotiate with rival clubs, the Chiefs are looking at rugby targets, where no such restrictions exist.

Speculation the Chiefs were chasing Wallabies star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is wide of the mark, according to informed sources, but it’s a different story when it comes to Pritchard – who only turned 19 last month and is already a superstar in the making.

Boasting skill and elusiveness some have likened to Kalyn Ponga when he was at the same school 11 years earlier, Pritchard debuted for the Reds last year in a friendly while still in grade 12 at Anglican Church Grammar School (Churchie) in Brisbane.

Pritchard was drafted straight into the Queensland senior squad this season and made his debut in Super Rugby Pacific in March.

Pritchard, who plays wing, fullback and centre, has since played in eight Super games and scored his first senior try for the Reds last week with a deceptive run in the dying minutes against rugby’s Chiefs, from New Zealand.

The youngster’s name has already been mentioned by some pundits as a potential Wallabies bolter this year, and with more time under his belt Pritchard will be a legitimate contender for selection in squad for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia next year.

Pritchard is contracted with the QRU until 2027, having last year extended his deal.

Informed industry sources said the PNG interest is not new territory for Pritchard, who has been courted by numerous NRL clubs in the last few years, particularly in Queensland. His spectacular highlight reels from schools rugby, and in the Australian under-18 teams – both XVs and sevens – are well-known.

He starred in a pair of thumping wins by the Australian Schools and Under 18 side over New Zealand last year: 81-48 in Canberra and the second Test 55-33

But while Pritchard, who played rugby league until the age of 15, has said he elected to stay in rugby because he loves being at the Reds, the Chiefs’ ability to offer tax-free earnings could be a decisive factor.

A tax-free $300,000 a year salary from PNG would give Pritchard roughly the same money in his pocket as a $500,000 contract in rugby – which is top tier in the 15-man game. Rugby Australia would be required to push the boat out to match it, and largely on Pritchard’s potential.

If the Chiefs pursue a 2028 deal with the Pritchards in coming months, it would also force RA to negotiate for an extension beyond the normal contracting timeframes in rugby. While league players signing deals to change clubs 18 months in advance is now common, it is rarely – if ever – seen in Australian rugby.

But Pritchard signing with the Chiefs for 2028 would also potentially affect his status at the selection table for the Wallabies in the future.

Kadin Pritchard is also a high-quality athlete who played for the Junior Wallabies in 2024 and made a Super Rugby debut for the Brumbies in 2025. The 21-year-old has become a mainstay for the Canberra side this season, starting almost every game at No.13.

He is highly regarded by his Brumbies coach, former Wallabies star Stephen Larkham, who has a knack for developing talent.

Treyvon has been brought through the Reds system by incoming Wallabies coach Les Kiss. Though Kiss has taken the slow and steady approach to his introduction to Super Rugby – Pritchard has been on the bench in all but one game – the coach is a huge fan.

“Treyvon is very savvy. He is no one-trick pony,” Kiss said earlier this year. “He is a beautifully balanced young player. Very quick, smart and confident. He can kick off both feet, step off both feet, and his speed off the mark is brilliant. He has the one thing you can’t coach and that’s speed.”

The Pritchard brothers’ father, Dan, is a New Zealander, while mother Brenda is of Ghanian heritage.

As Rugby Australia prepares to challenge the Melbourne Rebels in the Federal Court this month, former Australian Rugby Union boss Gary Flowers has urged the governing body to settle the multimillion-dollar case with the now-defunct Super Rugby franchise.

“They’ve got to resolve this case with Victoria,” Flowers, a former lawyer, told The Australian. “It’s just ridiculous that this thing is going ahead.”

In a landmark case that will be heard in the Federal Court on May 18, the Rebels are suing RA over allegations it breached funding obligations and oppressed the club by failing to pay employment liabilities when it couldn’t.

It comes after the Rebels entered administration on January 29, 2024, owing creditors $23m, including $11.5m in debt to the Australian Taxation Office, before being shut down after the 2024 Super Rugby season.

The case is set down for a three-week trial and will be heard by Justice Cameron Moore.

Melbourne’s directors have already handed over almost $3m to continue their fight against RA. They were asked to outlay $2.2m last month after an earlier payment of $550,000 by the club.

The Rebels’ lawsuit is being led by businessman Leigh Clifford, the former chairman of Qantas and chief executive of Rio Tinto. Clifford is also the father of Rebels director Georgia Widdup.

It’s believed the trial, which will put Rugby Australia’s executive team, including CEO Phil Waugh and CFO Richard Gardham, on the witness box, will unveil strategy papers hidden from members, together with board minutes that have not been in the public domain.

At the centre of the case will be whether RA made commitments to provide funding, including an annual $1.7m participation fee if a “Funding Event” occurred. In particular, the Rebels will argue the $80m debt facility RA secured with Pacific Equity Partners in late 2023 represented a funding event.

But RA’s defence documents, submitted on December 23, 2025, state the funding event was to mean a financial injection “involving a private equity investor taking a stake in RA and/or its assets, or similar”, not a debt path. RA has since paid off its debt arrangement.

In addition, the Rebels will argue why other Super Rugby franchises, including the Waratahs and the Brumbies, received significant financial payments and were, ultimately, saved by RA.

Widdup believes RA strategically decided to abandon the Rebels, in part, because of their own financial struggles.

This included, she claimed, the disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign when the Wallabies failed to make the knockout stages for the first time just 10 months after sacking Dave Rennie as national coach.

“Rugby Australia withdrawing support from the Rebels was a direct consequence of a series of inexplicable financial decisions RA had made over a number of years which had put the sport in a catastrophic financial position,” Widdup told The Australian.

“Those RA decisions included adding back in the Force when RA had still not returned the funding that had been promised over years to the Rebels and other clubs; paying two head coaches for an entire year; and the uncontrolled Wallabies spending which led to a multimillion blowout after the failed Rugby World Cup campaign.

“RA’s mismanagement of the sport meant they had overseen an $11.5m operational expense increase and $4.9m decrease in revenue in 2023. On top of this, as part of the centralisation push, RA committed to covering the entire operational costs of the Waratahs and the Brumbies (which they are still doing). The Rebels directors were left to personally fund the gap.”

Widdup denied RA were unaware of their financial situation. She also claimed the looming trial would also have direct consequences for volunteers in the game.

“The Rebels directors are all volunteers,” she said. “We love rugby and all we have ever wanted – and still want – is to see professional rugby flourish in Victoria.

“There are a lot of highly paid administrators in sports in Australia, but the real heart and soul of every club and competition is the volunteers on boards and behind the scenes who give their time, and in our case more than $6m, because they believe in the sport and how sport brings communities together.

“When Rugby Australia, or any other professional sport, turns their back on passionate volunteers and treats them badly, it has long-term consequences for every sport and its fans. Every volunteer on every state sporting board in Australia will be paying close attention to this trial and wondering if they will be next.”

Rugby Australia says it has at all times fulfilled its obligations to Melbourne Rebels Rugby Union.

“As custodians of the game, Rugby Australia took necessary steps to safeguard the broader Australian Rugby community from the crippling debts incurred by the experienced businesspeople, lawyers and accountants that constituted the board of MRRU,” a spokesman said. “Despite receiving more funding from Rugby Australia than any other Super Rugby club, MRRU was found by an independent administrator (whom the MRRU directors appointed) to have been trading insolvent since at least December 2018 with debts exceeding $23m. Furthermore each director is now personally liable for tax debts exceeding $10m.

“The directors of MRRU are once again leaning on the Australian Rugby community to pay for their personal liabilities.

“These are the same directors who deserted the club, its fans, players and staff in January 2024. Rugby Australia then funded the running of the club for the duration of the 2024 Super Rugby season.”

Flowers, who led the ARU from 2004-07 and was a national managing partner of law firm Sparke Helmore, said there would be no winners out of the case.

“What’s going to happen here is a result that no one likes,” he said. “The only winners out of this will be lawyers. To my mind, they should just sit down and settle it.”

Flowers added: “Rugby Australia, certainly in the past, was historically never great at keeping a record of everything that was said.

“I’m sure Victoria is going to have some stuff that comes out.

“Anyone who goes into litigation thinking they’re going to come out a clear-cut winner clearly hasn’t been involved in litigation before.”

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NZ Rugby’s booming revenue masks a growing cost-control problem

Rugby has a notoriously complex set of laws to govern its on-field action and now it seems, in New Zealand at least, it has built an equally complex balance sheet making it just as hard to determine what is happening in the boardroom.

There is a headline figure that New Zealand Rugby (NZR) lost $7.5 million in 2025, adding to the $19.5m it lost in 2024 and $47.5m in 2023, leading to the conclusion that the administration of the game has descended into a spending freefall from which it can’t escape.

But there is a second figure, a subheading, which is that NZR made a $700,000 operating profit and that there is no cash haemorrhaging.

This operating figure is reached after discounting the near $12m of investment into commercial growth initiatives made in 2025.

This money is the last of the $39m that was set aside to pump into new revenue-generating streams after US fund manager Silver Lake invested $200m in NZR three years ago.

This operational number suggests NZR is effectively running precisely where it wants to be at a break-even point after making all its investment commitments to support and grow the grassroots game.

The question is, then, which story should be believed? Is the $700,000 operating figure just an accounting sleight of hand to be dismissed as a numeric game of hide-and-seek, or a fairer assessment of how the finances of the game are being managed?

The answer is that both narratives carry elements of truth. Spending may not be out of control, but it is certainly not as under control as it needs to be.

And while the business may indeed be running at a cash-neutral position, there is a sense that only happened in 2025 because of a major one-off payment from former sponsor Ineos that was likely in the vicinity of $17m.

NZR’s total costs of $311m in 2025, follows the $303m that was spent in 2024 and the $276m in 2023.

In those same three years, total income grew from $268m in 2023, to $285m in 2024, to $304m in 2025.

The trend is unmissable, that NZR does not have a revenue problem, but a cost-management problem. Revenue is on a consistently upward trajectory, but so too is expenditure, and its trajectory remains steeper.

The growth in revenue in 2025 mostly comes from the compensation payment from Ineos after the petro-chemical company unilaterally pulled the plug on its six-year sponsorship three years early.

NZR took legal action and forced Ineos to pay an undisclosed sum and then the national body won two new replacement sponsors – Toyota and Gallagher – quicker than expected.

The other big cash generator was the test against Ireland in Chicago, which delivered close to $6m and was the most lucrative one-off fixture the All Blacks have ever played.

Revenue grew by $19m in 2025, mostly on the back of a one-off payment and a one-off test, and yet total expenditure in 2025 was $8m higher than it was in 2024.

NZR’s former chief executive Mark Robinson and many former board members have blamed the spiralling expenditure on the number of fixed-cost agreements into which the national union is locked.

There is a legal agreement to pay the players almost 37% of commercially generated revenue, and for the provincial unions to receive almost 17% (although they had to take a lower percentage last year).

In total, 54% of NZR’s income is linked to a fixed cost, with private equity partner Silver Lake also due a $10.5m annual payment to service the $262m it has invested.

The Silver Lake money continues to operate as a loan being paid at 4%, but the US fund manager has the right to convert its investment into a 7.5% equity stake, which would see NZR’s fixed costs jump to 61.5%.

But the alternative, and more compelling argument, is that far from excessively draining NZR’s coffers, the agreements with the players and provincial unions protect the national body by providing certainty of budget.

The players in particular are often criticised for being paid too much and holding the game to ransom, but revenue-share agreements are commonplace in sport as they build a partnership between the athletes and competition owners, and greater buy-in from both parties.

There is also an element of flexibility in New Zealand’s agreement where the player payment pool will underspend in some years and overspend in others to help with player retention.

The 37% figure comes out as fair and reasonable when globally benchmarked, and certainly it is significantly lower than the payments made in the English Premier League (football), where clubs will next year self-impose a limit of no more than 85% of total income being spent on player wages and agent’s fees.

The source of NZR’s spending issue is not player payments, but the associated logistic costs of running so many teams in black.

The accounts show that spending on teams in black climbed from $83.7m in 2024 to $86.6m in 2025, while total expenditure on competitions rose from $126.5m to $129.2m.

NZR last year had to get the All Blacks to Argentina, the USA and UK; the two respective sevens teams all over the world; the Black Ferns to the USA and the World Cup in the UK; the All Blacks XV to the UK and France; and the Under-20 team to South Africa and Italy.

Whether all these teams have a clearly defined high-performance purpose and effective cost-management oversight remains a question NZR can’t yet answer.

The men’s sevens team has lost its way entirely and doesn’t have a clear role in the wider ecosystem, and while the whole premise of an All Blacks XV makes sense, 12 players who featured in the past two years have left or are leaving New Zealand.

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Waratahs defend decision to pick Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii in the centres amid calls for change

Dan McKellar has hit out at the scrutiny on Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and defended the call to leave rugby’s $5m man in the centre amid calls for urgent change.

Rugby League convert Joseph Suaalii has sparked an epic long range try as the Wallabues ran away to a first half lead against the Lions.

Dan McKellar has defended his decision to keep Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii in the centres for the must-win game against the Highlanders this weekend, saying his side needs to be braver in attack to get him more ball.

The Waratahs coach came under fire following NSW’s meek 20-17 loss to Western Force last Friday, when Suaalii ran for two metres in a 60-minute effort.

In a Code Sports poll after the game, 92 per cent of readers agreed that Suaalii was being wasted in the centres.

Former Waratahs and Wallabies centre Morgan Turinui called for Suaalii to be moved to the back three on Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts show this week, saying: “I think it’s time to shelve that 13 experiment.

“I understand at the Wallabies it might be different, but at the Waratahs, they’ve got to be selfish now, and they’ve got to find a way to free up space.

“He’s a ‘get the ball in his hands early’ guy, and let him create doubt. That’s the way I’ve said it all the way along, and I haven’t seen any evidence to change my mind.”

But McKellar has stuck with the $5 million man in the No. 13 jersey for Saturday’s clash in Dunedin, saying the Tahs simply did not play their game against the Force, while leaving open the possibility of moving Suaalii for the final three games in the regular season.

“Friday night was a challenging game, we just had no ball, and that’s the reality, and we had a plan to get Su into the game a whole lot more than what he was,” McKellar said.

“He copped a bump pretty early on, which certainly restricted him as well.

“Thankfully, he’s overcome that. But he’s been selected at 13 this week. As I’ve said many times before, there’s an open mind around where he plays now and where he plays in the future.

“But we just didn’t get a chance (against the Force) when you attempt 349 tackles. You look at our tackle statistics, I think Andrew Kellaway made 23 tackles as a winger. Angus Scott-Young made 38 tackles.

“There’s a reason for that, that we obviously need to address internally. And then you look at our carry numbers and across the board, it was right down.

“So it’s not just about Joseph or anyone individually. We were just very conservative on Friday night. And we’ve got to play with a little bit more spark and energy around our attack.”

McKellar said the scrutiny on 22-year-old Suaalii was unfair, but “comes with the territory”.

“I think it’s just with his profile, and obviously everything else that comes with that, he’s scrutinised from one week to the next,” McKellar said.

“The other thing is he came back from two months out injured. Not too many players come back from two months out and hit the ground running.

“But there was certainly a plan in place. I think we showed that with our intent from the very first whistle around how we wanted to get him into the game.

“Unfortunately, the Force did a really good job of squeezing us and making us come out of our end.

“I don’t think (the scrutiny) is fair, but it comes with the territory.

“I talk to him about it and he’s very measured.

“I don’t think he spends a whole lot of time reading articles and that sort of thing. He’s very focused on what he needs to do.

“Obviously last year we played him in 15. He played five or six games last year and performed pretty well. He’s been in the 13 jersey for the Wallabies and up until this point we’ve thought keep that consistency around (his) position, and try to unlock what is a pretty unique talent.”

One thing McKellar does not want to see against a desperate Highlanders side is reluctance to play with ball in hand.

“We’ve got a game that we want to play and we’ve shown it in large parts throughout the course of the season, last Friday night, certainly not,” McKellar said.

“But we don’t want to be going into our shell. You don’t win Super Rugby, history shows.

“We want to play a style that suits the strengths of our group and obviously resonates with the DNA of NSW rugby union. We’re not going into our shells, that’s for sure.”

With centre Joey Walton ruled out with a neck injury, Suaalii is paired in the centres with ball-playing Lawson Creighton.

With skipper Matt Philip also ruled out with a calf injury, halfback Jake Gordon will captain NSW in Dunedin, partnering five-eighth Jack Debreczeni, who plays his 100th Super rugby game:

MCKELLAR BACKS ANZAC DAY BLEDISLOE

The Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup match concept has been wholeheartedly supported by NSW coach Dan McKellar, who says it’s time for Super Rugby clubs to stop being selfish.

The game is set to get official support from NZ Rugby at their annual general meeting on Thursday, which will then trigger negotiations to stage the game in Australia on April 25, 2027.

While Rugby Australia has pitched the idea to their Kiwi counterparts since 2024, there was firm resistance from the All Blacks coaching staff, who believed it did not allow sufficient preparation time, and Super Rugby clubs who did not want to lose their stars for a weekend.

“I think we’ve got to park our own agendas I suppose, or not be selfish,” McKellar said.

“Rugby union needs to grow, it needs to think outside the square and if it means an Anzac Test in front of 100,000 people at Accor Stadium, and we’re down a couple of players for a week as other teams will be as well, you need to park that and think what’s best for the game.”

It’s understood that the five Kiwi Super Rugby franchises, and incoming All Blacks coach Dave Rennie are now supportive of the Anzac Day Bledisloe.

The NZR board is expected to officially support the game, and RA will entertain offers from state governments to bid on the match, with Perth and Brisbane the leading candidates.

“I think it would be an unbelievable spectacle and I’d be all for it,” McKellar said.

“In other codes, you look at State of Origin and the impact that has on clubs throughout that and that’s a much longer period, so for a week or two I think you’ve just got to understand that the pros far outweigh the cons.

“As a game we need to continue to think outside the square and what we saw over in Christchurch a couple of weeks ago (in Super Round) shows what we can do as a sport when we all get together, and I think the Anzac Test would be an unbelievable event.”

The All Blacks have held the Bledisloe trophy for the past 23 years.

If the Anzac game is ratified for next year, it would be the first time since 2021 that the Bledisloe would be contested over three Test matches instead of two.

It would also mean the Wallabies would face the All Blacks at least four times in 2027, with the two sides grouped in the same World Cup pool.