Wednesday’s Rugby News sees RA get its guitar back from the pawnbroker, the ABs learning from the best, the World Cup significance of the Argentina games, and universally popular top bloke with good tackling technique, Owen Farrell, has a beret-wearing critic.
RA number one with a bullet, it’s a power pack ’cause its back in black. Yes, it’s back in black, aw!
The SMH reports that the financial windfall from the British & Irish Lions tour, which saw Rugby Australia pocket as much as $120 million, has allowed RA to clear its debt and turn focus towards the creation of a future fund to sustain the game.
Under an unprecedented joint venture agreement with the Lions that split all profits (apart from home broadcast, naming rights deals and marked-up warm ale in pubs) it was forecast Rugby Australia would make $100m. Final figures haven’t been reported, but anonymous source ‘Wathan’, said the tour had yielded revenues up to 20 per cent higher than budgeted, and also said “don’t call me ‘Deep Throat’ in the article. I get the Watergate reference but you guys will be f*ckwits about it. You wonder why I stopped writing for G&GR in the first place”.
RA’s windfall was enough to return it to the black last week by paying back $60 million of debt owed to Pacific Equity Partners, drawn down as part of an $80m credit facility sourced in 2023. The original five-year agreement with PEP was due to run until 2028, but built-in flexibility allowed RA to repay the debt and exit early. RA settled up and cancelled the agreement last Friday.
It means RA is now debt-free for the first time since 2020, when it initially took loans from World Rugby and HSBC to keep the game afloat during the COVID-19 crisis. That was followed by a $40m loan, with ARES Management, which was later re-financed into the $80m credit facility with PEP, which was preferred to a private equity deal.
RA Chief Executive (and second-best flanker of his era) Phil Waugh said “RA’s next horizon is the establishment of a sustainable financial model for the game through the 2026-2030 period, and work is well progressed in delivering on this. In parallel, we are designing a framework for how best to utilise the profits from the Lions series and the 2027 and 2029 Rugby World Cups to grow Australian Rugby’s long-term sustainability. This could potentially be in the form of an investment fund to drive investment in the game from end-to-end and will be strongly aligned to RA’s Green to Gold strategy.”
The positive financial landscape is a sharp turnaround from the $36.8 million deficit reported by RA in 2024; which was impacted by the disastrous 2023 Rugby World Cup, and RA taking over the Waratahs and the Brumbies, and funding the Rebels in their final season. Rugby Australia will bank another $100m for hosting of the 2027 Rugby World Cup, as part of a joint venture with World Rugby.
As first floated by former chair Hamish McLennan in 2022 when Australia’s bid won the race to host the 2027 World Cup, RA are keen to create a “future fund” with the Lions and World Cup profits, which would be locked away, invested and used to fund rugby at all levels in the country.
All Blacks to copy Wallabies
PlanetRugby reports that former All Blacks and Blues hooker James Parsons has taken a deep dive into the Springboks’ stats ahead of their Eden Park showdown with the All Blacks on Saturday. Parsons has claimed that Scott ‘Razor’ Robertson’s side will need to take notes from the Wallabies’ recent victory over the Springboks.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Aotearoa Rugby Pod, the centurion Blues player said: “When the Wallabies won, what did they do? It’s potentially going to be wet on Saturday night, there is going to be a lot of kicking, so you’ve got to pick the people that are going to play the best and be able to exploit the weaknesses that South Africa showed against the Wallabies. And those weren’t always contestable kicks. O’Connor found some nice 50:22s, little tops [over-the-top] kicks, Nic White grubbers in behind. So those are all options to be regained as well.“
“Through the hands is still in the rugby DNA of New Zealand. I think one line break in the last game, two previous, even though if it’s wet, can we chance ourselves? Just get that balance between risk and reward. The Springboks’ rush defence did get exposed a lot by the Wallabies just by giving those bridge passes. So I think for the All Blacks, you’ve got to know what the conditions are, and you’ve got to be able to match the aerial game, one, stopping South Africa, and two, regaining your own ball.”
Morgan Turinui nervous about Argies
Sam “Corey” Worthington reports for Nine that “the next two Tests against Argentina are more important than the Bledisloe,” according to Morgan Turinui on Between Two Posts. “Because it’s absolutely crucial to be ranked in the top six by the end of the year, and a loss at home to Argentina is one of the biggest death blows to that.”
Australia is hosting the 2027 Rugby World Cup which will be contested by 24 countries for the first time. The draw will be held in December and the top six ranked teams in the world at that time will get top seeding across six pools of four. The Wallabies are currently ranked sixth on 84.85 points with the Pumas (83.40) flashing their headlights in the Wallabies’ rear-view mirror in seventh.
The Wallabies sit second on the Rugby Championship ladder behind New Zealand but all four teams have had one win and one loss. “I’m way beyond nervy,” Turinui said. “I don’t know why we have to convince people. World Cup semi-finalists, 2023, in a tournament where we didn’t get out of the pool. Have beaten New Zealand in New Zealand, New Zealand at home, absolutely belted us in Argentina last year, play a varied game where they can play direct, pragmatic, territory, absolutely outplayed the All Blacks in the air. Great variation of kick and pass, one of the best short passing games in the 15m channels, great on counterattack, play tough, fit and disciplined. It’s the most disciplined Argentina I’ve ever seen. Mate, they can win the World Cup in ’27, let alone coming here and beating the Wallabies.”
Owen Farrell receives mixed reviews
Stuff and The Telegraph report that Jacky Lorenzetti, the Racing 92 president, is not also the president of the Owen Farrell Fan Club.
Farrell moved to Racing 92 from Saracens in 2024 but only lasted one unhappy season in Paris during which he was dogged by various injuries. His last appearance for the club came on 4 May in the Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Lyon when he suffered a concussion which ruled him out of the rest of his club’s domestic campaign.
A month later, the former England captain agreed a deal to rejoin Saracens and then on 3 July he was called up by Lions head coach Andy Farrell to replace the injured Elliot Daly. While there was some confusion initially about whether the 33-year-old had passed his concussion return-to-play protocols, he went on to play in the second and third tests against Australia.
This left an incredibly sour taste in the mouth of Lorenzetti, who says he felt betrayed by watching his former flyhalf in Australia. In an interview with L’Équipe, he was asked how he reacted when he saw Farrell appear for the Lions and told the French sports newspaper: “I was upset, I felt like vomiting. When he left us, he told us, ‘I am injured, I have a headache, I want to play less. The Saracens offer me this opportunity etc…’ And a few days later, he played with the Lions. He lied to us. I need to say the truth about him. I have the feeling to have been betrayed.”
After signing a two-year deal with an option of a third, Farrell only started 14 games in the French capital. A groin injury sidelined him from the start of November to mid January, and when he made his Top 14 comeback against Castres Lorenzetti delivered a withering critique that he “played at the speed of a snail going backwards”.
Farrell is far from the first high-profile overseas player to have endured a miserable time at Racing 92. Like Farrell, South Africa’s double World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi lasted just a single season in Paris, which led to another scathing verdict from Lorenzetti. “He gained weight, lost shape and yesterday [against Bordeaux] he was transparent,” Lorenzetti said. Before that, flyhalf Johnny Sexton lasted just two seasons but there were no tears on either side when he returned home to Ireland.
