SUPER RUGBY
Billionaire Forrest’s offer to invest in Australian rugby too late to save the Force
Sydney — Billionaire Andrew Forrest’s offer of a sizeable investment in Australian rugby came too late to save the Western Force Super Rugby team, says Australian Rugby Union chief Bill Pulver. The Western Australian mining magnate made the offer last week in a bid to prevent the cull of the Perth-based Force as part of the contraction of the mainly southern hemisphere competition to 15 sides for next season. Forrest had tabled a donation of up to $39.81m to the Australian Rugby Foundation, but it had come too late in the day, Pulver said. "I wish he’d been involved in the process perhaps a little earlier, that would have been helpful. We are way down the track, having made commitments to go to four teams and having had an extraordinary general meeting, where our members voted to go to four teams. It’s a little late to be making that sort of change," he said. Rugby Western Australia has appealed against the decision to axe the Force at the Supreme Court of New South Wales, which Pul...
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