ANALYSIS: Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh was in Auckland to watch the Wallaroos beat Wales at the beginning of November.
Waugh also used the trip to have a meeting with Kevin Molloy, the Auckland-based marketing expert who will be the inaugural chair of the Super Rugby commission for the first 18-24 months of the new entity’s existence.
Described to Stuff as a constructive and positive exchange, Waugh’s exchange with Molloy – and the lack of drama that followed it – is exactly the sort of interaction that New Zealand Rugby hopes will become the norm in the wake of Hamish McLennan’s exit.
The axed Rugby Australia chair was replaced on Sunday after he ran out of allies across the Tasman, and it is not a state secret that NZ Rugby’s relationship with McLennan was fraught and confrontational.
There won’t be any public popping of champagne corks after McLennan’s fall, but NZ Rugby struggled with McLennan’s style, his zero sum view of the world in which there must be public winners and losers, and his habit of overriding his chief executive with provocative statements that apparently contradicted closed-door negotiations.
While there will always be tension between NZ Rugby and Rugby Australia – and that can be a good thing – powerbrokers in New Zealand developed the view that McLennan became inherently opposed to any idea coming out of NZ Rugby HQ, whether they be good, bad or indifferent.
The slow progress towards a commission to champion Super Rugby was emblematic of the clash between NZ Rugby and McLennan.
Several Super Rugby chief executives in New Zealand have, for a year or more, been deeply frustrated by what they viewed as McLennan’s reluctance to cede any control over the competition.
With bottom lines across Super Rugby under pressure, the Super Rugby commission has ground to make up to keep supporters engaged in sport, never mind attracting a new audience.
Part of the challenge is providing an entertaining spectacle, no easy feat after the Rugby World Cup showcased some of the worst elements of the modern game.
Incredibly, the second half of the Rugby World Cup final ran for 56 minutes, providing a game that had natural tension to the occasion but was otherwise a dire advert for rugby.
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Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh, left, is likely to take a more prominent role after the exit of Hamish McLennan.
Stuff understands that there is no appetite for a repeat of this in Super Rugby Pacific, and officials will again be encouraged to speed up games while TMO referrals will likely be restricted to incidents that only involve obvious and serious foul play.
But, the negativity around the shape of the game only emphasises the important role the Super Rugby commission has to play, and neither NZ Rugby nor Rugby Australia can afford to get bogged down in boardroom battles.
The game as a whole has real challenges ahead, but NZ Rugby will at least feel that McLennan’s departure will speed up the changes that need to take place.
