Rugby Australia director Peter Wiggs resigns
MELBOURNE: Rugby Australia (RA) director Peter Wiggs has resigned after less than six weeks in the role amid reports of disharmony on the board as the embattled governing body seeks a new chief executive to replace Raelene Castle.
Private equity manager Wiggs had been endorsed by influential backers in Australian sport to replace RA Chairman Paul McLean, who is due to step down in July. However, local media reported on Tuesday that his attempt to push through the appointment of Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) Chief Executive Matt Carroll to replace Castle without a recruitment process did not sit well with other directors.
“Peter has decided to step down from the board and I understand his reasons,” McLean said in a RA statement yesterday. “He has undertaken some very important work and has made a valuable contribution to the organisation, in a very short time, and we are thankful for his contribution.
“The immediate priority of the board is to install a replacement for Peter, and an interim Chief Executive. I will provide an update on those matters at the appropriate time.” Carroll signalled that he was not interested in the RA role on Tuesday, saying in a statement that he was focused on his work at the AOC.
RA is battling a financial crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with uncertainty over future revenues due to the suspension of all rugby in Australia and other nations. New Zealander Castle quit last month after nearly three years at the helm, saying she believed the RA board no longer wanted her in the role.
Meanwhile, Top 14 presidents will meet to decide which French clubs will play in next season’s European Champions Cup after the domestic campaign was stopped due to the coronavirus.
League holders Toulouse, three-time continental winners Toulon and table toppers Bordeaux-Begles could be absent depending on which of the four options the bosses choose, with the term stopped with nine regular season rounds to go.
The current campaign was declared over last week due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country as Prime Minister Edouard Philippe banned rugby and football until September. The stand-out favourite scenario is to hold play-offs in September between the teams sitting between fifth and eighth place, sources have told AFP.
Victor Vito’s La Rochelle would play Handre Pollard’s Montpellier as well as possible a re-run of last year’s Top 14 final with Clermont, who could have new signing in Japan’s Kotaro Matsushima available to face Jerome Kaino’s Toulouse.
Other avenues to be considered include taking last season’s standings which would leave Toulon and Bordeaux-Begles in the second-tier Challenge Cup. “If it happens, we’ll adapt and play the match in the best conditions,” Montpellier coach Xavier Garbajosa told radio station France Bleu.
“Today, our position after 17 rounds doesn’t allow us to have any grievances,” he added. French sports daily L’Equipe reported last week that next season’s Champions Cup will change from its format of five pools of four to one with 18 outfits in one group starting in December.
According to the daily, sides will play two different teams home and away with the top eight reaching the quarter-finals as to save a weekend and play the knock-outs from the currently postponed season in the autumn.
“The idea is to not have matches without anything at stake at the end of the pool stages,” Lyon president Yann Roubert told the paper.
The chiefs’ decision about which half a dozen French outfits play in the Champions Cup will have to be validated by the executive board of the league which is likely to meet next week. The board, which includes French rugby federation president Bernard Laporte as well as bosses from the clubs, are expected to announce no winner of the Top 14 for the first time since the Second World War. —Agencies