United Oz Super Rugby team?

Sportsbusiness.com's website reports that the news agency said the proposal is designed to create an east coast rugby powerhouse and will be presented to the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) at a board meeting on February 24.

Under what would be the biggest reform to the structure of rugby in Australia since the game turned professional, the Waratahs, Queensland and Melbourne would hand over limited control to the ARU but retain ownership of assets.

Fairfax Media said the proposal, while still in the very early stages of negotiations, aims to pool the three unions’ assets and create a more powerful player in the Australian sporting landscape.

The move would be akin to the centralised model in New Zealand, where the country’s five Super Rugby teams maintain control over their own administrative and membership operations but hand control to the NZ Rugby Union (NZRU) on issues including high performance.

The ARU already controls the Rebels, after the club’s founding backer Harold Mitchell ended his funding last year.

New South Wales and Queensland, the two biggest rugby markets in the country, are said to favour the proposal.

While he would not comment directly on talk of a merger, ARU chief executive Bill Pulver said the union is in regular talks with Super Rugby bosses over future plans.

“I have made no secret of our financial challenges at an administrative level,” he said.

“Doing nothing is not an option and our discussions within the Australian rugby community will continue.”

Fairfax added that Canberra’s Brumbies and Perth’s Western Force are believed to have opted out of the proposed collaboration at this stage but have not ruled out joining the new entity in the future.