Rugby Australia boss reveals how British & Irish Lions tour ‘exceeded expectations’
Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh (inset) and British & Irish Lions fans during the series against the Wallabies.
Rugby Australia (RA) chief executive Phil Waugh has revealed that the governing body has received a larger than expected financial boost after the recent British and Irish Lions tour.
Although the Wallabies secured a 22-12 victory in the final Test in Sydney at the weekend, the famous touring team left Australia’s shores as 2-1 series winners – the same result as their previous visit to the country in 2013.
Despite battling in the first Test in Brisbane, the Wallabies were more competitive in the latter two encounters and after suffering a narrow defeat to the Lions in Melbourne, they bounced back with their deserved triumph at a packed Accor Stadium in Sydney.
Prior to the tour, Australia were overwhelming underdogs and although they looked out of their depth for most of that first Test, they became more competitive as the series progressed and the Lions eventually claimed an aggregate 68-67 win across the three fixtures against the Wallabies.
‘It was a really fierce Test battle’
“We saw on the field, they got one point better than us and one try better than us and it was a really fierce Test battle,” Waugh told AAP.
“Any of that speculation was shut down by a number of people, including their CEO, who spoke at various events committing to returning to Australia.
“It would have been been nice to win the series, but if you look at the nine games across the country, the record (MCG) crowd, sold-out stadiums… both in Rugby Australia but more broadly into the economy, it’s been very successful off the field.
“And then we’ve seen the progress of the Wallabies group.
“It’s been an overwhelmingly successful tour – it would have been nice to obviously win the trophy, but that wasn’t to happen.”
RA was expected to earn more than AUS$100 million from the Lions tour, which will help clear the AUS$60 million they’ve already used from an AUS$80 million loan taken out to safeguard rugby union in Australia.
‘Exceeded expectations’
Although the figures were still being finalised, Waugh said they had “exceeded expectations”.
“We’re working through how the funds are flowing through on the back of the tour now but it’s certainly exceeded expectations,” he added.
“It’s been a good opportunity for us to reset the balance sheet and being quite overt and transparent around the fact that we’ve got the debt facility and ideally we pay that down as quickly as possible given the cost to carry it.
“We’re still planning to reset the balance sheet, clear the debt position and then lean into the next broadcast cycle to get to a financially sustainable model.”
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