It is a huge week for Australian rugby union. The code’s powerbrokers will convene on Wednesday to lock in the master plan for the much-vaunted “golden decade” highlighted by the 2025 British & Irish Lions tour, the 2027 and 2029 home World Cups, and the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. If Australian rugby is to survive and even thrive in the new era, true union starts today.
It has been nine months since Wales humiliated the Wallabies 40-6 at the 2023 World Cup in France and fans have endured Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell since then – the resignation of national coach Eddie Jones, the liquidation of Melbourne Rebels from Super Rugby Pacific, the defection of Wallabies stars Carter Gordon and Mark Nawaqanitawase to the NRL, and Rugby Australia’s admission that they are almost $89m in debt and paying $5m a year in interest alone.
