Clock ticking for Waratahs after Rugby Australia fail to agree Easter pay deal with players' union
An anticipated Easter resolution to the pay talks between Rugby Australia and the players' union hasn't eventuated by early Monday evening, with the clock now ticking especially loud for the NSW Waratahs.
Going into Easter RA had been optimistic of getting a deal on salary cuts done with the Rugby Union Players' Association (RUPA) by the end of the holiday period.
However, there was no formal phone hookup between the two parties on Monday and by the evening there was no details of any official talks scheduled for Tuesday.
The Waratahs players are scheduled to be paid on Wednesday and it was hoped an agreement would be struck before then.
The NSW Rugby Union board is not expected to meet before then, though CEO Paul Doorn and Waratahs chairman Roger Davis are in regular contact.
It's believed RA has proposed a 65% pay cut for the country's Super Rugby players over a six-month period.
RUPA is believed to be concerned about committing to a six-month deal, especially if play resumed within that period
NSW Rugby stood down a significant portion of its non-playing workforce, believed to be around 70%, back on April 1.
Standing down their players without pay is one option if a deal isn't reached before Wednesday, but is being considered more as a last resort.
Another option would be to pay them in full on Wednesday and take a backdated bigger portion than the eventually agreed percentage out of future wages.
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Australia definitely the game of the weekend. Wallabies by 3.
Go to commentsSmith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
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