Rugby Australia stick heads in the sand over Eddie Jones but hunt ACT Brumbies

The Brumbies are resisting RA's push for centralisation, with Australia's most successful Super Rugby club and the only one currently within reach of bringing the trophy to these shores have already been forced to prove their solvency once.

Now RA are sending a team of auditors in for a financial investigation, desperate to pinpoint a time the Brumbies were insolvent. Do that, and they'll revoke the club's licence as part of the governing body's move towards centralisation.

Why would it matter if the Brumbies were insolvent years ago if they are functioning today, even taking into account a dire financial situation? Why would the club want to hand over all commercial, marketing and intellectual property amid fear the club will be moved away from Canberra?

RA bosses are refusing to provide clarity on the Brumbies' long-term future, and they are pulling out all the stops to find means for a takeover.

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All this coming from chairman Hamish McLennan and chief executive Phil Waugh, who are refusing to even pick up the phone and ask Japanese rugby officials if Eddie Jones is in the hunt to become their national team's next head coach.

A month after it was reported the Wallabies coach held an interview over Zoom with Japanese rugby officials before leading Australia's ill-fated World Cup campaign, it seems RA bosses don't want to know whether the reports derailing the game in this country are true.

Jones has repeatedly denied he is in the running to take the reins from Jamie Joseph, adamant he will not walk out on Australian rugby after signing a lucrative deal to lead the Wallabies until the end of the 2027 World Cup.

But we've heard those denials before. Remember when Jones was unveiled as the new Stormers coach and denied links to England, only to desert Cape Town and join the English national set-up eight days later?

Few will feel comfortable until Japan reveal their new head coach and it isn't Jones sitting in the chair.

Now former Wallabies stars are demanding clarity, with Drew Mitchell urging RA bosses to give information "to the people that actually care about this game" as supporters disengage with Australian rugby.

"There's been all this chat and dialogue about Phil Waugh, the CEO, who hasn't spoken to the Japanese union. Just get on the phone. Let's get clarity," Mitchell said on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby: Australia podcast.

"The ambiguity creates frustration, anger and toxicity on social [media]. Let's get as clear as we possibly can because at the moment we're having to take Eddie's word for it.

"We're not getting anything from Hamish McLennan or Phil Waugh. Get as much information as you can ... and then give it to the people that actually care about this game.

"Where we are at the moment - in terms of the disengagement of the supporters to Rugby Australia, to the Wallabies and everything that is going on - we need as much clarity as we can get, so give it to us.

"If you don't have it yet, seek it. Call up the Japanese union and say, 'Have you made contact with Eddie Jones? Where are you at with it?' If it's nothing, then great, we can start to believe that because at the moment Eddie is saying, 'I haven't made a call'."

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