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The Australian Rugby Union will next year resurrect the national club competition model thrown on the scrapheap after just one season last decade.
Seven years after the Australian Rugby Championship was canned by ARU boss John O’Neill for being too expensive to run, his successor, Bill Pulver, has dusted off the third-tier plans.
Speaking in Edinburgh, Pulver has revealed an eight to 10-team National Rugby Championship would involve teams from Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and possibly regional country areas.
Australia’s answer to New Zealand’s ITM Cup, it would run for two months from mid-August, after Super Rugby, and be played on a round robin basis before a two-week finals format.
The ARU board has already signed off on the project, and key broadcast negotiations – which would make it financially viable – are almost finalised.
Pulver, who hopes to lock in a broadcaster next week, is “hellbent” on making the competition work to boost player depth and ultimately raise ARU revenue after slashing expenditure this year.
He has met resistance from the powerful Sydney clubs, who also staunchly opposed the ARC, but will continue to preach the need for the rebranded competition on meeting with club presidents early next month.
“Change is difficult to get people to come to terms with but I am hellbent on getting this through,” he said. “I am so convinced this is right, strategically, for the future of Australian rugby.
“From the perspective of accelerating player development and revenue for the game this is the right thing to do.”
Pulver argued Australian rugby would be in a far healthier state today if the ARU had shown faith in the ARC – containing three amalgamated Sydney teams, two from Brisbane, ACT, Perth and Melbourne – after its one brief season in 2007.
Costs rocketed largely through the set-up of the Melbourne Rebels with Sydney and Brisbane players moving and living interstate to train and play.
But Pulver said costs would have reduced over time and eventually the concept would have broke even.
“I am very confident that (NRC) would be a different outcome to ARC,” he said. “I actually think that in so many ways ARC could have been a runaway success.
“I suspect that the core concepts they had with ARC were absolutely spot on and it’s quite possible we terminated that too soon.
“If we were sitting here today with the ARC in its eighth season, I can tell you that as a game for Australia we would be way ahead of where we are now.”
Pulver said the concept had been endorsed by Australia’s five Super Rugby franchises and their players would be involved.
Also taking an AFL approach, he underlined the importance of growing the game around the country, including Western Sydney, to develop better talent pathways.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.