Rugby Australia chief certain Lions will return in 2037, Giteau Law scrapped
Some media pundits had suggested after the Lions comfortably won the first test in Brisbane that Australian rugby was so weak the country no longer deserved its place on the touring rotation along with New Zealand and South Africa.
Waugh thought the competitiveness of the Wallabies in the second test in Melbourne, where they came within seconds of victory, and the third in Sydney, where they won 22-12, had firmly quashed any speculation about the Lions not returning.
"Australia is a really important home for the Lions tour every 12 years," the RA chief executive told reporters at the conclusion of the series.
"On the field, I think the accumulative points, they got one point better than us and one try better than us, and it was a really fierce test battle.
"So I think any of that speculation, it was shut down by a number of people, including their CEO, who spoke at various events committing to return to Australia."
Waugh thought the second test, which attracted a crowd of 90,307 to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, was one of the best internationals he had seen in a while and said he had been impressed with the Wallabies throughout the series.
"I think it's been an overwhelmingly successful tour, albeit would have been nice to win the ... trophy, but that wasn't to happen," he added.
"I think that the progress that's continued through the group, and I think the cultural growth of the group, has been really, really pleasing."
Around 450,000 fans attended the nine matches and Waugh said the tour had exceeded expectations on financial returns for both RA and the Lions.
REDUCE DEBT
Exactly what the returns were was still being calculated, he said, but Australia's proceeds would go to reducing the A$80 million ($51.78 million) credit facility RA took out in 2023, which cost more than A$9 million to service last year.
"It certainly exceeded expectations," Waugh said. "I've always said that it's a really good opportunity for us to reset the balance sheet.
"We've got the debt facility, and ideally we pay that down as quickly as possible, given the cost to carry it ... then we'll lean into the next broadcast cycle to get to a financially sustainable model."
The Wallabies got great returns in the series from Will Skelton, the wrecking ball of a lock who was recalled from his French club to take on the Lions.
Tighthead prop Taniela Tupou, who played a key role in the third test victory, will also be moving to a French club this year, which would once have made him ineligible to play for the Wallabies.
That blanket ban was eased ahead of the 2015 World Cup under the 'Giteau Law', which allowed the Wallabies coach to select three overseas-based players under certain criteria.
RA's Director of High Performance Peter Horne confirmed that all restrictions on test selection had been scrapped when Joe Schmidt took over as Wallabies coach last year.
"Joe's got no impediment to select whoever he wants. That's always been the case. The Giteau Law's kind of redundant," he said.
"But we've also made a choice that we select domestically if the players are of equal calibre, it's important that we invest in our premier competition in Australia."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Former All Blacks winger Bridge signs with Western Force
MELBOURNE :Former New Zealand winger George Bridge has signed a two-year deal with Western Force and will return to Super Rugby next season, ending a three-year stint in French rugby. Bridge scored 12 tries in 19 tests for the All Blacks and played in the 2019 World Cup in Japan before heading abroad to play for Top 14 side Montpellier in 2022. The 30-year-old will replace Wallabies winger Harry Potter who left the Perth-based Force to join the New South Wales Waratahs. Bridge, who can also play fullback, was part of Scott Robertson's powerful Canterbury Crusaders from 2017-22, helping the South Island team win four Super Rugby titles and the domestic Super Rugby Aotearoa championship twice. "George is well known to a number of people on our staff and they can't speak highly enough of his professionalism, approach to the game and his rugby knowledge," Force coach Simon Cron said in a statement on Tuesday. "He's got a massive left foot kick. He can play multiple positions. He's a brilliant player. An amazing talent. He'll add to the guys that we have in the squad." The Force, who have never made the playoffs in any variant of Super Rugby since joining in 2006, managed only four wins last season and finished ninth in the 11-team competition. Bridge's former team, the Crusaders, won a record-extending 15th Super Rugby title.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Badly bruised elite US universities are rushing to cut deals with Trump
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox WASHINGTON – As a growing number of the wealthiest US colleges capitulate in their battles with the Trump administration, the strain from lost and frozen federal funding is putting pressure on the remaining holdouts to cut a deal. Universities targeted by Mr Donald Trump's crackdown on diversity programmes and other policies he says show a liberal bias are essentially bleeding at the negotiating table after taking on debt, laying off hundreds of staff and slashing spending. As the fall semester approaches, they may be increasingly eager to ink accords that will stanch the flow. Cornell and Northwestern, both of which announced steps to address major budget shortfalls this year after the federal government suspended research funds, are now close to agreements with the White House, Bloomberg News has reported. Brown, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania reached accords over July. But amid those settlements, new universities are being targeted. Most recently, the University of California at Los Angeles and Duke joined Harvard, Northwestern, Princeton and others in losing access to federal grants that are the financial lifeblood of large research institutions. It all adds up to an unprecedented pressure campaign that's roiling the world of higher education, reverberating through faculty, student and alumni groups and clouding the outlook for the type of medical and scientific research that takes place at the colleges. The multitrillion-dollar tax law signed in July also hikes the tax on income from endowments for some of the wealthiest private schools . As the Trump administration gains leverage, colleges' bruised budgets could drive them toward making agreements quicker. 'It seems like they want to get deals done now,' said Professor Brendan Cantwell, a professor at Michigan State University who focuses on the political economy of higher education. 'It's almost like a dam is broken. I would not be at all surprised if we saw a cascading set of agreements.' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Asia What's it like to deal with brutal US tariffs? Ask Malaysia Singapore Singapore launches review of economic strategy to stay ahead of global shifts Singapore A look at the five committees reviewing Singapore's economic strategy Opinion Keeping it alive: How Chinese opera in Singapore is adapting to the age of TikTok Life Glamping in Mandai: Is a luxury stay at Colugo Camp worth the $550 price tag? Sport World Aquatics C'ships in S'pore deemed a success by athletes, fans and officials Singapore Strong S'pore-Australia ties underpinned by bonds that are continually renewed: President Tharman Federal funding has been used as a cudgel by the Trump administration, which has criticized what it says is a failure by academic institutions to crack down on antisemitism during campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza. The moves also come amid a broader campaign against diversity efforts and accusations of political bias. The fallout has already started. Northwestern said it would cut more than 400 jobs to save 5 per cent on labour costs, with university officials calling the past few months some of the most difficult in its 174-year history. The Trump administration in April paused US$790 million (S$1 billion) in research funding for the Evanston, Illinois-based school because of potential civil rights violations. At Cornell, leaders in June warned that drastic financial austerity measures were on the table after hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research contracts were terminated or frozen. 'The spring semester was unlike anything ever seen in higher education,' they wrote in a letter to students and staff. 'We have been using institutional resources to try to plug these funding holes in the short term, but these interim measures are not sustainable.' Late in July, the government froze US$108 million in research funding to Duke University, or about 20 per cent of its federal revenue, three Trump administration officials told Bloomberg. Duke is in talks with government officials on a settlement, according to an administration official. Duke's press office didn't provide a comment on the funding loss or the status of government talks. A Duke official, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations, said the school is reconsidering its budget amid the funding loss, but that it hopes an end to the freeze will come soon. Cornell and Northwestern have declined to comment on any settlement talks. Trump agreements On July 23, Columbia University agreed to pay US$221 million in a deal that was promptly criticised for infringing on academic freedom at the school. Brown announced a deal on July 30, agreeing to give US$50 million over 10 years to workforce development organisations in its home state of Rhode Island in exchange for the reimbursement of at least US$50 million in unpaid federal grants. Shortly before reaching the deal, Brown took out a US$500 million loan – a sign of how strained the school's finances had become. Brown, the least wealthy of the Ivy League schools with an endowment of US$7.2 billion, had previously warned in June of 'significant' cost-cutting measures to offset the federal funding. The Trump administration's higher-education crackdown has exposed just how dependent some of the elite, research-focused universities are on the government. They're essentially 'major federal contractors' and stopping the stream would be catastrophic for many of them, according to Prof Cantwell. 'Think about Booz Allen or Raytheon,' Prof Cantwell said. 'If they said, 'All your federal funding will be frozen for 9 months,' you can imagine how those firms might react.' The Trump administration has dealt a harsher financial blow to Harvard than any other university in its crosshairs, freezing billions of multiyear research grants and contracts. The school estimates that the moves by the administration, as well as the endowment tax increase, will cost about US$1 billion annually. Harvard's Kennedy School already cut staff. 'The unprecedented challenges we face have led to disruptive changes, painful layoffs, and ongoing uncertainty about the future,' Harvard President Alan M. Garber said in a letter to the campus. Dr Garber has told faculty that a settlement with the government is not imminent and the university is considering resolving its dispute through the courts, the Harvard Crimson reported on Aug 4. Mr Larry Ladd, who served as Harvard's budget director and now advises schools at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, said he cannot criticise any college for coming to a deal with the Trump administration given what is at stake for their campuses. 'Schools are likely facing pressure to use endowment and tuition revenue, which are typically used to support students, to support some of their research enterprise instead,' Mr Ladd said. 'They don't want to do that because they want to continue to support students. There's that pressure as well.' Ms Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, said campus leaders are being put in an 'untenable position' and worries that federal funds will continue to be weaponized by the Trump administration, even if schools make deals. 'The concern is the more we capitulate through making these agreements, the more the administration will be empowered to continue along these lines,' she said. BLOOMBERG
CNA
3 hours ago
- CNA
Australia to buy 11 advanced warships from Japan: Defence minister
SYDNEY: Australia will upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Tuesday (Aug 5). "This is clearly the biggest defence-industry agreement that has ever been struck between Japan and Australia," Marles said, touting the US$6 billion deal. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was awarded the tender over Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. Australia announced a major restructuring of its military in 2023, turning towards long-range strike capabilities to better respond to China's naval might. Mogami-class warships are advanced stealth frigates equipped with a potent array of weapons. Marles said they would replace Australia's ageing fleet of Anzac-class vessels, with the first Mogami-class ship to be in service by 2030. "The Mogami-class frigate is the best frigate for Australia," said Marles. "It is a next-generation vessel. It is stealthy. It has 32 vertical launch cells capable of launching long-range missiles." Defence industry minister Pat Conroy said the frigates were capable of launching long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles. "The acquisition of these stealth frigates will make our navy a bigger navy, and a more lethal navy," he said.
