Phil Kearns believes spearing under-siege Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan won’t solve anything, with the former Wallabies captain saying the states are holding back the game.
In a dramatic 24 hours, the RA board scrambled together on Saturday to discuss the future of McLennan after six RA member unions rallied together to call for his resignation.
It comes after Queensland Rugby Union chairman Brett Clark phoned McLennan on Friday evening and told the embattled chairman that he had lost the support of the majority of the member unions in Australian rugby.
McLennan turned down Clark’s request to stand aside, telling The Roar it was another case of the states putting “parochialism over unity and centralisation”.
Shortly after the rebels responded, with six member unions issuing a statement of their letter to the RA board insisting McLennan resign.
The rebels insisted their calls for change weren’t because of “opposition to Rugby Australia’s centralisation proposals” but rather a “deep concern about the performance of Mr McLennan as Chair, and the damage done to the game by his performance”.
Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh (R) and Chairman Hamish McLennan. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)
McLennan, who was appointed RA chairman in mid-2020, has attempted to usher through reform measures, such as aligning the high-performance and commercial portfolios of each of the five Super Rugby franchises with RA, since being elected in the midst of the Covid pandemic.
All five Super Rugby franchises have in principle supported RA’s desire to align their high-performance programs, but they are still at odds about to what extent and want more detail before committing. Only the NSW Waratahs, who like many of the Super franchises are financially stricken, have aligned high-performance and commercial assets.
However, the RA chairman has increasingly come under fire after his decision to appoint Eddie Jones as Wallabies coach backfired.
McLennan has also been criticised by ACT Rugby for calling into question their solvency amid RA’s desire to push the Super Rugby states down the path of centralisation.
Kearns, who was tasked by McLennan to run RA’s successful 2027 and 2029 World Cup bids as executive director, said the member unions had lost sight of what’s needed for Australian rugby to succeed in the future by calling for the chairman’s head.
“People will blame Hamish for the performance of the Wallabies at the World Cup. In hindsight, the selection of Eddie was a bad choice. But I don’t think anyone can cop the blame for that apart from Eddie and the players and predominantly Eddie,” Kearns told The Roar.
“But that’s not the point, Hamish has done a lot of other things that have been good.
“We were about to go into administration, and we didn’t. He got the debt deal and sorted that. He got a television deal done, he got Cadbury on board as a major sponsor, he got Twiggy and Nicola Forrest supporting the Western Force. People are looking at the on-field stuff and not recognising the off-field stuff.
“The second thing I would say is the states are the problem, not RA. It’s clear every time someone wants to implement change, and usually it’s got to do with the states, they fight against it and stop it.”
Wallaby great Phil Kearns says Rugby Australia’s member unions must following Hamish McLennan’s lead and back centralisation. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Kearns was one of 10 former Wallabies captains who called for a change of leadership in 2020, citing the lack of leadership and vision for the game.
The two-time World Cup-winner said McLennan had attempted to usher through the necessary changes for the Wallabies and Wallaroos to succeed in the future.
“If you go back to the captain’s letter in 2020, it talked about people making decisions for the good of Australian rugby and they’re not. Hamish is trying to make decisions for the good of Australian rugby and the states aren’t,” Kearns said.
“They’re [the rebels] only talking about accountability with regards to two decisions. One is Eddie Jones, and the second one is around centralising the game.
“Everyone says it’s a good thing to centralise the game. But when it comes to doing it, they won’t budge because they’re worried about their own power. NSW has made a decision for the good of the game, the other states haven’t.”
Kearns, who acknowledged he had known McLennan since their children attended primary school but said they had not seen each other for more than a decade before successfully working on RA’s World Cup bid, said Australian rugby would continue to eat itself if the chairman was speared.
“The next person that comes in as chairman will come to the same conclusion that we need to centralise our game and the states will block it again,” Kearns said.
“As long as they continue on that path, we’ll have this cycle keep going round and round. As the 10 captains said three years ago, make your decisions for the good of Australian rugby.”
Margaret Freemantle
Please do us all a favour by not publishing anything from Kearns or related to him. He has always been Tahs centric and so damaging to Rugby in Australia. If he insists a team has to leave, perhaps the Tahs have to be the go to.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Serious question, how on earth hasn't RA not already appointed the Head of High Performance? I do agree the States need to get on board and need to understand they won't exist in 5 years if they don't, but I also understand their desire to know who is going to lead the new centralised structure. This appointment for me should have been made instead of bringing in Eddie and canning Rennie. Hindsight is wonderful I know but this is just so obvious. RA you need to pull up your socks now and get this appointment made before Xmas.
Perthstayer
Roar Rookie
This is an impenetrably stupid comment: ".....cop the blame for that apart from Eddie."
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
I'm not convinced anything addresses our problems tbh. But "NSW bad, everyone else good" is a cancerous attitude which will only ever stymie any sort of progress. Not accusing you of that attitude of course.
East Coast Aces
Roar Rookie
we are not where we are now because we have 5 Super Rugby Teams.
jeznez
Roar Guru
I’m pretty ambivalent on centralisation. My gut feel says it won’t go anywhere near addressing our problems but maybe I’m wrong. No matter what though, McLennan has to go. He’s a menace.
TahMansCape
Roar Rookie
Don’t worry all. Just another journo piece on one of Hamish’s “Yes” men. Can we please get an opinion from someone who Hamish hasn’t appointed to a cushy role?
ShortBlind
Roar Rookie
With you on this Ken, the WHO is a shambles of influence and corruption, as illustrated by their bending over for big Pharma during COVID. I don’t read the MSM in Australia but am surprised there hasn’t been a bigger stink about this. Sheeple ????
Big Dave
Roar Rookie
I think Hamish position is untenable. If people want the optus CEO to go because of something insanely technical that she had no control over but is ultimately responsible for as CEO, then Hamish can’t stay when his fingerprints are all over this mess. But it’s naive to think the states here aren’t doing this for their own benefit. They aren’t happy that RA is squeezing them financially to force them to centralise, so they’re forcing Hamish out and will try to install someone who will let them keep their power. They pay lip service to centralisation because they can’t do otherwise without displaying their self interest. But it isn’t something they want, they want to keep their own little fiefdoms. Nothing is going to change in Australian rugby now, just more of the same old carp.
sheek
Roar Guru
Rabbitz, My reading from some Roarers is that this is a magnificent squad of players. All they need is someone to steer the boat for them. Oh, & for other countries to back off & let us win according to our own misguided greatness!
ajhreds
Well said Pi2m
Margaret Freemantle
Exactly!!!
Margaret Freemantle
Still
Margaret Freemantle
Kearns- a question: when in the past 20 years has NSW acted for" the good of the game?" What an arrogant,privileged thing to say that the other 6(!!) States haven't?? Where are the results of your high and mighty attitude Kearnsy?
Biscuit man
Roar Rookie
3 Super rugby teams dont support this view including the Western Force.
Biscuit man
Roar Rookie
Something has to give. We cant field 5 competitive teams in SR. The Union with the smallest support and the least number of registered rugby players should be out. If we continue this way all SR teams outside of NSW and Qld will be defunct.
Margaret Freemantle
We, the Rugby community, are heartily sick of the Tah old boys. McLennan is the RA chief failure and the likes of Kearns trying to justify the unjustifiable. No mention of the jobs for the boys, the lack of integrity with Rennie,, the desire of this band of privileged, Tah private school set, desperately trying to keep it that way. We have had enough. Thank you to the States- keep pushing
Biscuit man
Roar Rookie
I sometimes wonder if this Eddie Train wreck was intentional to bring all of this federated model to a head.
Biscuit man
Roar Rookie
Exactly. I think the Force and Vic rugby are with RA. Thats 3 Super Rugby Teams staying in the current RA camp. The main rebellion is from Qld and ACT. I can't understand the position of the Reds though, hope they dont find themselves in the outer as this progresses. If you take McClennan out of the picture there is still a negotiation to be resolved and Qld have a big part to play in this. They are a major player and partner in Aus Rugby. I can't imagine that McLennan is their only gripe though.
Jackass
Roar Rookie
Players need a high performance environment to perform. You think RA has ever provided this? It's no surprise that any oz player that heads to Europe or NZ becomes a much better player. The players have been shafted. The ones that stayed over covid, took pay cuts and all they got in return is ever increasing mismanagement by RA. If I were any budding pro player I'd be headed to Europe.