Rugby Australia to reconsider retention of four Super Rugby teams in long-term

Rugby Australia Chief Executive Raelene Castle announced on Monday that the board would not be able to guarantee retention of four teams in the Super Rugby competition in the long-term.

The statement comes after the governing body reported a provisional $9.4 million deficit for 2019 after the domestic competitions were suspended following the pandemic coronavirus.

“At the moment we have got contracts in place around delivering a Super Rugby structure with four Super Rugby teams and that’s the model that we will be working to,” Castle told reporters via a teleconference.

“But it would be crazy for us not to be thinking about other scenarios that might roll out.”

Castle also confirmed that the home series against Ireland and a clash against Fiji that was set to take place in July is unlikely to happen and as a result she is taking a 50 per cent pay cut while senior executives have been asked to take a 30 per cent reduction in wages.

"I think that's a pretty good start point to set an example of how important an issue I think this is.

"Over the last 10 days we've done nothing but scenarios around how we can take cost out of the business and that includes all the different contracts we could stop.

"There is no doubt that across our business, including staff, we are going to have to have some very difficult conversations.

"However, we know the government are trying to make some announcements to support staff so they get supported. We're in dialogue with the government to understand what that allowance look like so that we can factor that into our decision-making."