‘We’d like to see Taniela stay’: RA ‘absolutely’ want Thor for Lions, have ‘contingency plans’ for Rebels crisis

Overseas clubs are preparing to swoop on the carcass of the Melbourne Rebels, but Peter Horne says Rugby Australia has “contingency plans” should the Super Rugby franchise fold at season’s end, including how to retain Taniela Tupou.

Horne, RA’s new director of high performance, was ice-cool on Thursday in Sydney, as he spoke alongside Waratahs coach Darren Coleman and rising fullback Max Jorgensen after the 19-year-old turned down approaches from the NRL to sign a new two-year extension.

But the excitement of locking down one of the best young talents was somewhat overshadowed by the unfolding mess at the Rebels, who fell into voluntary administration in late January and are fighting for their future.

With their future up in the air amid a $22 million outstanding debt, all roads point towards the Rebels taking RA to court as they argue that the governing body didn’t follow through on promises of additional funding.

Nor does a resolution appear imminent, meaning the entire competition, including the roster planning of all five Australian Super Rugby franchises ahead of next year’s vitally important Lions tour, is in a state of limbo.

It also means coaches and players are assessing their next move, with Kevin Foote’s high-performance team only employed by RA until June 30.

For off-contract players like Carter Gordon, the uncertainty is a factor in the World Cup squad member’s next decision.

Others like Tupou, as well as captain Rob Leota, are contracted with RA until the end of 2025, but their deals could potential potentially be blown up should the Rebels go under.

Already the multi-million-dollar Wallabies prop has attracted significant interest from overseas clubs who are watching closely the events in Melbourne.

Leinster, the heavyweight Irish province, have dangled one of their most expensive contracts ever in front of him, while it’s believed he is also sitting on a $1.6m offer in France.

The Roar understands new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is keen on ensuring Tupou stays in Australia ahead of next year’s Lions series, but a couple of years of frustration, which include several injuries and a bumpy final season at the Reds followed by the mess unfolding at the Rebels, could see him leave.

Horne, who was pivotal in Schmidt signing on as Wallabies coach, insisted RA was “absolutely” intent on keeping Tupou despite his injury troubles over the past 24 months.

“We need we keep all our best players within the system, and we want to make sure that they’re performing and reaching their potential within Super Rugby and then available for selection,” Horne said.

“We desperately want to see all players perform well in this competition. Then it’s over to Joe and the team to find the best combination for the Wallabies.

“At the moment, yeah, 100 per cent we’d like to see Taniela stay.”

Slowing the process of course is the situation unfolding at the Rebels.

Horne admitted the governing body had “contingency plans” should a resolution not be found quickly, but he admitted they needed “plenty of water to go quickly under the bridge” to get their house in order ahead of the game’s most important three years in their history.

“The primary focus is obviously to get through the administration process as quickly as possible,” he said.

“Joe is in contact with the players on a regular basis.

“I tell you now, the agents constantly contact us. So that’s OK, we’ll keep the dialogue going.

“We don’t want to lose anyone, we want to keep them in our system. They’re important to our overall broader rugby environment and we need we need as many of our best players to stay, regardless of what the outcome is.”

It’s not just trying to lock down Australia’s best talent that Horne is in charge of, with the former World Rugby general manager also playing a role in backfilling Schmidt’s Wallabies coaching team.

While RA announced Laurie Fisher as one of Schmidt’s assistant coach, Horne confirmed they are advertising for a lineout forwards coach.

Slowing that process has been who is available.

Schmidt has looked at some of his former assistants like Greg Feek and Jono Gibbes to jump on board, but both coaches are currently employed by New Zealand Rugby.

Even then, RA would prefer some local coaches to join Schmidt’s team.

The issue, however, is who given the limited number of experienced and proven forwards coaches involved with Australian rugby.

“Joe’s been working pretty hard to get that together,” Horne said.

“We’ve got some recruitments that we’re doing, it’s pretty obvious we’re in the market for an assistant forwards-lineout coach. We’ll do some interviews next week on that.

“We’ve got a head of strength and conditioning in the market at the moment, we need an analyst. And there’s probably about another six to eight roles that will go to the market.”

Waratahs coach Darren Coleman said he had been impressed by Schmidt’s desire to get stuck in and help out the current cohort of Super Rugby coaches.

“Joe’s an awesome man,” Coleman said. “He’s a bit of an encyclopaedia of rugby.

“You can’t not hold him in awe of what he’s done in the world game.

“What I liked most besides his openness and easiness to get along with and chat, his willingness to want to get to know the players outside of footy.

“He’ll make his own assertions on what they do on the field, but we’ve had lots of chats around the character, the type of people that boys I’ve got here, how they respond and react to different situations. So, he’s definitely doing his homework.

“As Pete said, he’s always open, he’ll obviously watch our game closely and he’ll throw me a few tips here and there, and I really enjoy that.”