The romantic view of the recent rapprochement between Rugby Australia and New Zealand Rugby is that it reinforced old fraternal bonds that cannot be broken – a sign of the enduring respect and affection between the parties.
The cynical view is that their shared challenges have brought them back together: their huge financial issues and the presence of the NRL, a cashed-up and aggressive rival.
A confidential NZ Rugby document I obtained earlier this week painted the governing body’s issues in stark terms.
A forecast loss of $NZ27 million ($21.75 million) this year. A structural deficit of $NZ20 million a year, with no end in sight without change.
A projected loss of $NZ66 million in 2027-2031, despite a British and Irish Lions tour windfall in 2029.
Also, the document reveals: “The NRL now draws 28 million NZ viewing hours against Super Rugby’s 19 million and NPC’s [National Provincial Championship] 14 million.”
That last line means rugby competitions in New Zealand are still more watched than the NRL despite Warriors-mania (and the viewing figures exclude All Blacks Tests), but you get the point: rugby league is a big thing across the ditch.
These figures would be all too familiar to Australian rugby fans, and gallows humourists might conclude that Australia was always 10 years ahead of New Zealand.
What this all means for Australia is unclear. Powerbrokers from across the New Zealand rugby system will descend on Wellington next week to discuss their options, but identifying the issue is the easy part – finding agreement on a solution is far harder.
However, there is a half-glass-full world in which the urgency of the Kiwis’ problems works in Australia’s favour.
Certainly, there doesn’t seem to be any appetite from NZ Rugby to bin Super Rugby Pacific and return to a domestic competition, the NPC, as their elite competition model.
The NZ Rugby document states that the preferred men’s elite competition “retains Trans-Tasman, with design able to expand”.
So, for example, if you are a private investor keen to put money into the NSW Waratahs, there is certainty that the Tahs will have a competition to play in.
And, for example, if you are the Queensland Rugby Union and contemplating a split between the professional game and the community game with a view to investing into the Reds in a private Super Rugby model, that possibility still exists.
But above and beyond the specifics, the common challenges facing Australia and New Zealand should promote a collegial attitude to addressing them.
There is evidence that is already happening, with the Reds and Blues set to face each other on the Anzac Day weekend in Brisbane. A Bledisloe Cup Test will serve as the main event on April 25.
The Herald has spoken to Reds chief executive David Hanham and his Blues counterpart Karl Budge in recent weeks, and both are on the same page about the opportunity that fixture presents, rather than looking at the Wallabies and All Blacks who won’t be available.
“I think we’ve got to reverse how we view these occasions,” Budge said. “I look at someone like young Cohen Norrie [Auckland and Blues five eighth/fullback]. In almost any other sport, he’d be considered a first-round draft pick.
“When those first-round draft picks get a chance to finally debut for a club, it’s a sellout occasion in other sports.
“I’d rather reverse that conversation and go, ‘Isn’t it amazing that we’re going to finally get a chance to see Cohen Norrie rather than see Beauden Barrett’.”
The other Super Rugby clubs will share similar attitudes regarding the preceding weekend, when they will also be missing their Test players.
The Wallabies and All Blacks will, of course, remain the primary teams for RA and NZR, the only outfits that actually make a bit of money.
But both unions need to find a way to make a professional rugby competition below Test level at least sustainable from a commercial perspective.
At present, it clearly is not.
The NZ Rugby document revealed that Super Rugby Pacific is forecast to lose about $NZ11 million in the 2025-2026 financial year, while their Super Rugby Aupiki competition for women’s rugby will lose an eye-watering $NZ8.5 million.
NZ Rugby’s reduced broadcast deal with Sky is partly to blame, despite the robust viewing figures Super Rugby Pacific still attracts.
Getting that competition right will be no mean feat, but RA and NZ Rugby are both now in the same position: they have to, or else.
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Paul Cully is a rugby columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.