But Scotty these RU's problems had nothing to do with wildly uplifted player salaries; rather it was poor team performance and/or generally poor franchise management overall that got them into near bankruptcies.
Which brings me back to my central argument: what is crucial is not salary capping, or other forms of micro management that interferes with the franchises, but to create a 'macro' system where the crucial driver/enforcement over time is the calibre of the business and coaching management of each and every franchise. Manifestly, that is not what exists in Australian rugby today, far from it.
And the prime financial risks in Aus rugby today come from the poor accretion of external income as the teams are generally ordinary as is the management oversighting them, it's not the fault of player costs.
Just look at the crowd growth at the 2012 Chiefs home ground now they're doing so well after a total coaching and management rebuild. The same will happen in Canberra if the Brums keep it up. It's all about the management and coaching calibre, little else has anything like as much significance.