Changes afoot as rugby in disarray
SWEEPING changes are coming soon at the board of Rugby Australia as the sport continues to tear itself apart following the Wallabies’ disastrous World Cup campaign.
Michael Cheika’s stunning admission that he had no real relationship with either the chief executive Raelene Castle or the chairman Cameron Clyne has put the spotlight on the sport’s bumbling administrators.
While Cheika fell on his sword and quit after the team’s worst World Cup performance in history, furious Australian rugby fans are turning the blowtorch on the board members who left him in the job when the alarm bells were ringing more than a year ago.
News Corp understands that two of the three key executives could be gone within months — but that does not include Castle.
The vice-chairman Brett Robinson will be stepping down in April after serving his maximum three terms, totalling nine years.
And chairman Clyne’s future on the board is uncertain. The former banking executive has rightly copped a lot of flak, but needs the support of the membership to stay on because his second term is about to expire and he up for re-election.
Hundreds of disillusioned fans posted comments on The Daily Telegraph website yesterday calling for heads to roll and former Wallaby coach Alan
Jones echoed their sentiments by saying the entire board should be sacked immediately.
“The only good thing thing that can be said is that the broken down vehicle that is rugby would not be hard to repair,” Jones said yesterday.
“But it’s no use putting people in charge of the repair operation who presided over the car wreck in the first place — the car wreck we witnessed at the weekend. Make no mistake, Michael Cheika’s going solves nothing and if there’s any decency in the administration their resignations should be on the desk today.”
Former Wallaby Paul McLean will also complete his second term in April and is understood to be considering stepping down, and others may also head to the exit door because of the public anger, but there are no indications as yet that Castle will join them.
Appointed in late 2017, the new chief executive officer is not on a fixed term but is facing intense scrutiny after she publicly declared she believed in Cheika’s plan to win the World Cup when even Blind Freddy could see it was destined to fail.
“Cheik didn’t select himself,” former Wallaby and Fox commentator Rod Kafer said.
“He was selected by a board and I think they’ve failed in their assessment of what is the right thing for Australian rugby. There are a whole range of people who should be putting their hand up now and accepting responsibility for the choices they made.”