SARU to go to back to drawing board if provincial unions reject equity deal

CAPE TOWN - SA Rugby president, Mark Alexander, said that if provincial unions reject a private equity deal on Friday that will bolster its coffers by over a billion rand, the union will go back to the drawing board to find other revenue sources. 

Appearing before Parliament's sport, arts and culture committee on Wednesday, the union painted a bleak picture of its finances and the future of the game, saying an equity deal with American sports company, Ackerley, would allow it to make national rugby more competitive.

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The rugby executive said there was just not enough money available in the local economy to develop the game and to maintain its international performance.

While it's understood there's pushback from some provincial unions about the proposed equity deal, Alexander said they were not being coerced to go along with it. 

"At the end of the day, our members will vote, which we will need 75% of them to vote, and we will go whichever direction they take. If it fails, we will look at something else but we need to do something different."

SARU's legal advisor, Chantal du Pisani, said that the 75 million dollar offer had been independently assessed to be more than SARU's actual worth. 

CEO Rian Oberholzer said that selling a 20% stake in the rugby company was purely to the advantage of the sport.

"There's nobody that benefits out of this deal that is at all involved in rugby in South Africa."

SARU said that the Springbok brand would not be impacted by the equity deal and it would retain the majority share of its commercial rights.