Newly appointed Rugby Australia chair Daniel Herbert has vowed to end the internal unrest within Australian rugby.
RA has overseen a disastrous year which has culminated in Wallabies coach Eddie Jones leaving the job after only nine months in charge and former chair Hamish McLennan recently being sacked by the board.
Herbert acknowledged that rugby in Australia was at serious risk of being lost in the national sporting landscape and that cooperation amongst all the major players was needed.
“I don’t think we want war,” Herbert said on SENQ.
“We wont to get the outcomes we need through war. We just need to get people in a room to agree on the outcomes that we need.
“A civil war will bring everything to a head but a civil war is not in the game's best interest.
“This game has a tendency to eat itself at times (and) I think there’s a time where the game needs to get together and back itself.
“We won’t get anywhere with a civil war.”
One of the issues Herbert raised was that of player drain and retaining rugby talent rather than losing them to rival codes.
Herbert said RA must capitalise on the sport’s natural advantage and implement better development strategies in order for the national side to be competitive against sides like the All Blacks and World Cup champions South Africa.
“Rugby has the international side to the game that our two main competitors (in the AFL and NRL) don’t really have,” Herbert added.
“The competitions that rugby has are very appealing (and) we just have to be more present in schools and clubs and that is driving a strategy through to the member unions to ensure that they act on that.
“At the moment, it’s a bit fragmented with everyone doing their own version.
“There’s not a shortage of talent but there is a shortage of developing talent.
“The rest of the world is envious of the talent that we have got and the athletic makeup of our players. We just aren’t maximising it enough.
“We need to develop people. We can’t just get people and think they are the finished product. We have to put in the time and effort.”