ACT Brumbies coach and World Cup-winner Stephen Larkham has called for influential figures to end the constant off-field bickering as the game prepares for another flashpoint next week.
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The Rugby Australia annual general meeting is expected to see tensions run high again less than a year after chairman Hamish McLennan was ousted in the wake of the Eddie Jones debacle and a centralisation push.
A group calling themselves the Supporters of Overdue Australian Rugby Reform placed advertisements in newspapers earlier this week and are plotting to remove the entire Rugby Australia board at the AGM on Monday.
The group - made up of former Wallabies, ARU coaching directors and board members - sent a letter to all member unions, urging them to pass a vote of no confidence in the board.
It's another unwanted distraction for the game, which on the field is showing signs of improvement as Australian teams sit on the verge of trans-Tasman bragging rights for the first time in a long time.
Larkham was a player when rugby was at the peak of its powers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and is now a coach while two of his former Wallabies teammates - Dan Herbert and Phil Waugh - are steering the Rugby Australia ship as chairman and chief executive.
"You're conscious of all the stuff in the media with Rugby Australia at the moment," Larkham said.
"This has happened for the last 10 or 15 years. There's always the critics that talk on the sidelines about what's happening in there [at Rugby Australia].
"From our perspective, we certainly want some smooth sailing going forward. We've had some fairly turbulent years and we need to make sure we're all aligned and pushing in the same direction because we're sort of splintered at the moment."
The Brumbies have been stuck in the middle of a power struggle for almost a year. Rugby Australia launched a centralisation push last year, but the Brumbies and other franchises were reluctant to commit because of the minimal detail.
It resulted in a stalemate and Rugby Australia has agreed to let the Brumbies operate as per normal, but the ACT franchise is still facing significant financial pressure.
The Canberra club is yet to have its own annual general meeting after it was initially scheduled for December. It was delayed because of the centralisation battle.
Herbert jumped to the Brumbies' defence last month when it was reported the club was in danger of being insolvent, but the future of Australia's Super Rugby teams remains unclear as the Melbourne Rebels continue to fight for their existence.
Herbert hit back at the criticism from the group seeking reform, saying it was time to end the "bloodletting".
"You understand they wait for the opportunity when things don't pan out. They very rarely offer any viable solution but just want to throw a lot of mud," Herbert said on the Inside Line podcast.
"The overarching thing for me with any of these types of things that occur is: why, if you love a game and you support a game, would you go publicly and do something like that? That doesn't serve to protect or enhance the reputation or the interests of the game?
"And then it's just the hypocrisy, of some of the people involved, annoys me as well. Some of these people have been involved in the administration and made some of the mistakes, going back some way. It's very easy now to sit on the outside and throw stones in. It is more self than it is game."
On the field, Australia's teams are getting a better balance of power with their New Zealand rivals.
Super Rugby will host an Anzac round this weekend with five trans-Tasman clashes. So far Australian teams have won seven of 15 games against New Zealand teams this season.
They have already bettered last year's effort, when the benchmark Brumbies, NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds, Melbourne Rebels and Western Force managed just six wins from a combined 30 matches.
That 20 per cent winning strike rate in 2023 was an improvement on two decades of NZ beat-downs that includes a humiliating combined low of none-from-31 return against the Crusaders, Chiefs, Blues, Hurricanes and Highlanders in 2017.
SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC ANZAC ROUND
Queensland (6th) v Blues (2nd)
NSW Waratahs (9th) v Chiefs (5th)
Highlanders (10th) v Western Force (11th)
Crusaders (12th) v Melbourne (4th)
ACT Brumbies (3rd) v Hurricanes (1st)
Fijian Drua (7th) v Moana Pasifika (8th)