Aussie rugby ‘stronger as five’

The Australian Rugby Union Players’ Association has launched a petition to save Australian rugby’s national footprint, warning of ‘‘permanent damage’’ to the game if a Super Rugby team is cut.

As the axe hovers over one of Australia’s three smallest teams the Force, Rebels or Brumbies - the players’ union is trying to trigger a groundswell of public support to head off any such move.

The petition, entitled ‘‘Stronger As Five’’, warns that agreeing to cut an Australian team as part of a wider Super Rugby shakeup will ‘‘signal a retreat’’ in the competitive Australian sporting market place and also places responsibility for any decision - expected as early as next week - squarely at the feet of the Australian Rugby Union.

‘‘Super Rugby can only change if the ARU votes for it. This is the ARU’s call,’’ the petition states.

‘‘We have five Super Rugby teams all eager to participate in the competition and who have committed to being commercially viable.’’

The four Sanzaar nations Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and South Africa - have spent the past fortnight talking to broadcast partners and government stakeholders about the proposed change. An announcement on the new structure is expected as soon as early next week.

In the meantime, the Force, Rebels and Brumbies have all enlisted the help of relevant state government and corporate partners to rally support behind their individual causes, with talk of agreed Bledisloe Cup tests and millions of dollars in government funding in their respective states and territories in jeopardy should a team be cut.

With 20 per cent of the country’s professional players on the cusp of unemployment, RUPA have already rallied their members in support of retaining five teams, with Wallabies Michael Hooper and Nick Phipps among a handful to take their stance to the public.

The petition appears to take their campaign to the next level with yesterday’s petition, calling for rugby to ‘‘make a comeback, not a cutback’’.