Rugby’s darkest day, say players

Rugby Union Players’ Association has described the axing of the Western Force as the “darkest day in the history of Australian Rugby”.

The Australian Rugby Union yesterday said the Perth-based team would be cut from the downsized 2018 competition, while the Melbourne Rebels would continue.

The players’ representative body, which was pushing for both teams to continue, slammed the decision.

“Today is the darkest day in the history of Australian rugby with the custodian of the game confirming their desire to end the tenure of the Western Force and abandoning the game’s national footprint,” RUPA chief executive Ross Xenos said in a statement.

He said that the future of professional rugby in Western Australia would now be the “collateral damage” of poor decision making by the ARU and SANZAAR to originally expand Super Rugby to a convoluted and complicated 18team structure.

Xenos said RUPA would support players affected by the decision. “RUPA will do whatever it takes to ensure that players’ contractual rights are honoured and no player is unfairly disadvantaged by the ARU’s decision.”

The Western Force will take the ARU to court over the decision — and billionaire Andrew Forrest has vowed to back them.

RugbyWA released a statement saying it would consider launching urgent proceedings in the Supreme Court of NSW. It will also consider mounting legal action relating to the circumstances that led it to enter into the Alliance Agreement last year with the ARU.

Forrest reaffirmed his pledge to do everything within his powers to save the Force, with the issue set to be fought out in the courts.

“We want leadership from the Australian Rugby Union, not cowardly litigation,” Forrest said.

“But if they want to continue to fight us, we will happily take them on for as long as it takes.” AAP