The Rogues Rant 234

Welcome to The Rogues Rant, an occasional look at all things Rugby

The Coronavirus continues to take its toll on all walks of life. Rugby certainly is not being spared. The USA Rugby Union has filed for bankruptcy as the virus compounds their already precarious financial position. Rugby Australia had put plans in place to play a domestic five team tournament with the Super Rugby sides and the Western Force to participate. The tournament was about to be launched when the latest travel restrictions put in place by the Australian Government put an end to it. The breakaway Global Rugby Tournament has also gone into recess. NSW Country has cancelled all Country Championship tournaments for 2020. There will be no Senior, Junior or Womens competitions played this year as the Country Board calls an end to the arrangements for the season’s rep programs. The NSW State Junior Championships set for the June long weekend have also been cancelled, with all NSW School tournaments likely to follow. The way everyone is talking now it looks very unlikely that we will see any football locally either come May and June. As the Pandemic shows no sign of waning going into our usual flu season, I think we can all start thinking about season 2021 with some very difficult time ahead for us all.

At the International level all parties involved in July Test Matches both here and in the Northern Hemisphere have expressed grave doubts that any Tests will go ahead in this period. The Wallabies are down to play Ireland and Fiji in Australia in July but all parties are not expecting those matches to be played. Likewise in New Zealand and in the north all Unions are expecting that there will be no international rugby for the foreseeable future. It remains to be seen also whether the Rugby Championships and the spring tour to the Northern Hemisphere will get up.

As I was about to post this column word has come through that Rugby Australia has stood down 75% of their staff as have all the Super Rugby groups. The stand downs took effect from April 1 and will go through to June 30. Talk of a loss of revenue to the Australian game of $120 Million dollars will be a huge body blow to Rugby and I think we can expect more disturbing news to follow in the coming weeks. The flow on effect will be felt right through the game. As I said earlier it looks like we can start planning for 2021.  

World Cup winning South African Coach Jack White has returned to South African Rugby taking up the position of Director of Rugby at the Bulls. The astute former Brumbies Coach, White has spent time in France and Japan of late and returns to his homeland at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. I reckon White will become a significant figure in the future of South African Rugby as there are not too many more progressive minds in world Rugby than Jack White.

All opinions offered in this column are the opinion of the author. They should not be considered to represent the views of the IDRU.