Former New Zeland Performance Director Andrew Hore - not to be confused with the ex- All Blacks hooker of the same name - is leaving his current role as CEO of Ospreys to take up the same role with the Waratahs, and in a kind of valedictory interview with the Sunday Times, he believes that the Pro12 sides should join an expanded Super Rugby competition in order to compete with the financial muscle of the Top 14 and the Aviva Premiership.
Hore says that the current situation for the Welsh sides - and by extension, those of the Italian, Scottish and Irish clubs - is bleak, as the neighbouring competitions grow in financial power and appeal.
Consider the chasm between the following values: the Pro12 earns just £10 million from TV revenue, compared to the £60million and £59 million earned by the Top 14 and Premiership respectively. To help address the gap, Hore believes that the Pro12 clubs need to develop a new platform to boost incomes:
What we need is a vehicle to launch that platform and that has to be the competitions we play in. We are delusional if we imagine the Pro12 on its own is going to solve our problems.
So how to redress the financial imbalance? Hore argues that the Celtic sides must reconstitute themselves as part of a wider competition: a revamped Super Rugby. Hore reveals that, upon his return to the Southern Hemisphere, he will lead a movement to have the Welsh clubs compete in the South African rugby conference, with the long-haul flights to New Zealand and Australia reserved for the play-offs. He linked the current troubles being endured by Australian and South African clubs to the issues besetting Ospreys:
The key thing is, what is it our supporters and TV companies want that would make a different and valuable proposition, uniquely different from the Premiership and Top 14.
We have to create a product around them instead of stagnating and staying with tradition. Don’t fall into the usual Celtic rugby political rubbish. People realise the Six Nations on its own is not going to solve these problems.
The Pro12 needs to work out how it can be value extra. They can’t serve up a fillet of fish; it has to be a fillet-of-fish combo. If we try to serve up the same product as England and France, we will never get the same money.
Sanzar share the same problems as us, in developing an inordinate amount of talent that is pillaged by two countries, while not having TV deals to enable them to compete.
There is so much in common between clubs like the Ospreys and states like New South Wales.
NSW are permitted only one foreigner, so like the Ospreys they have to keep developing their own talent. But they need to generate more revenues, like we do, so they need to help the Australian Rugby Union come up with better products.
I want to be actively involved in that.
Hore believes that a failure to do this will affect the performances and prospects of the national team. He says that the while Wales remain an international power - partly through the ability to develop and manage players playing domestically - their status will seep away if the Pro12 remains so far behind their counterparts.
The big thing that could kill it is if we don’t get the Pro12 tidied up. It won’t be worth anything unless we get a proper TV deal fit for purpose in a competition fit for purpose.
What people don’t see is there is a lot of hurt in our game outside the national team that will ultimately be reflected in the national team.
While Hore is speaking from Ospreys' point of view, the same problems are affecting the Irish sides. The slight time difference between South Africa and Ireland make this plan slightly more feasible, but the plan looks quite unlikely to come to fruition. Although we really want to see Connacht beat Crusaders.
Picture credit: Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE
[The Sunday Times]
