Rugby Australia has taken one other probably deadly blow with news a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal won’t be renewed.
The beleaguered sport has been going via loss of life by a thousand cuts, the once-mighty code buckling beneath the load of a poorly performing nationwide crew and a floundering home competitors.
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The trophy cupboard is naked, tv scores are bottoming out and we haven’t even talked about Eddie Jones but.
So the news first reported by The Australian that Harvey Norman is leaping ship couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Jones’ disastrous 10-month tenure again in control of the Wallabies put the blowtorch on Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan.
McLennan was the person that led the choice to sack Dave Rennie in a World Cup yr and rush Jones again into the position he final held in 2005.
Jones then picked a vastly inexperienced aspect for the 2023 World Cup, casting apart the likes of Michael Hooper, Bernard Foley and Quade Cooper, because the Wallabies did not get out of the group stage for the primary time ever.
The culling of ex-skipper Hooper was the most important shock, with the 32-year-old lately opting to modify to rugby sevens, named within the Australian squad this week in a bid to compete in subsequent yr’s Olympic Games in Paris.
McLennan, in the meantime, was belatedly sacked by the Rugby Australia board this week and that was the important thing piece in Harvey Norman’s choice to not renew its naming-rights sponsorship of Super Rugby.
“The Harvey Norman contract with Rugby Australia expires at the end of December, the decision has been taken not to renew,” a Harvey Norman firm spokesperson stated.
The article states the retail large has already pumped round $5 million into the code.
Another main sponsor strolling away could be an unlimited concern for Rugby Australia chief govt Phil Waugh and the board.
Cadbury, the important thing sponsors of the Wallabies, are additionally stated to be “deeply concerned” by McLennan’s demise within the position.
With speak of extra bloodletting of the board being on the playing cards, incoming chairman Daniel Herbert and Waugh have a heck of a battle on their palms turning the game round.
Source: www.news.com.au
