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Hamish McLennan: On Super Rugby future, backing Dave Rennie and private equity talks

Rugby Australia Chairman Hamish McLennan has reiterated the potential for a return to a domestic Super Rugby competition whilst confirming Dave Rennie as the right man to take the Wallabies to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.McLennan spoke to reporters ahead of Thursday's opening Bledisloe Test in Melbourne at the announcement of a partnership with RM Williams.The deal will see a collaborative approach between the iconic brand and the national sides heading forward, as well as the introduction of a licensed product offering in 2023.With one partnership wrapped up, talk turned to the relationship between RA and NZR, with the future of Super Rugby up for discussion.The current Super Rugby Pacific deal reportedly ends in 2023, with McLennan rejecting any claims any talk of a return to Super Rugby AU was just 'bluffing' to get a better deal out of their counterparts.“I’ve been consistent in saying (NZR chairman) Stewart Mitchell is a really good guy and so we’re still talking about Super Rugby and trans-Tasman comp,” McLennan told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.“It’s grinding forward I would say. I saw them in Cape Town last week for the Sevens (World Cup) so hopefully it will resolve itself or we’ll go domestic…It is (a real option), we wouldn’t have said it if we weren’t real.“There’s no doubt, we’ve said it publicly, that the high-performance outcomes would probably be better with New Zealand in the mix but we’re not going to play second fiddle so time will tell if we’re bluffing.“But they know we’re serious, we’ve got the backing of our member unions, Super Rugby club chairs and Channel 9 to go domestic.“We haven’t won a Bledisloe in 20 years so who’s to say that a domestic competition wouldn’t deliver more money to Rugby Australia and possibly, with more teams and more players, better high-performance outcomes.”With those discussions still up in the air, one topic that is a certainty in McLennan's eyes is the future of Dave Rennie as Wallabies coach.The Wallabies dropped to ninth on the world rankings, their lowest point in history, following a drama-filled 39-37 defeat to New Zealand.Regardless, McLennan had little doubt about whether Rennie would be at the helm in France in 12 months' time, backing the direction they were heading in.“Yes, absolutely,” he said when asked if Rennie will coach through to the World Cup.“Dave’s done a great job in settling the team down.“There’s been real progress that’s been made. He’s as frustrated as anyone around the win rate. I think you can use the World Rankings as a data point but I think everyone in World Rugby can see the Wallabies are come back and moving in the right direction”McLennan also provided an update on the private equity deal, with talks beginning the ramp up.This has been flagged since April last year, with RA set to head into market over the next month according to the chairman.“We just working through the various combinations, setting up the data room and getting the financial modelling sorted out," he added.“We’ll be in the market in the next 2-4 weeks but we’re already having informal talks with private equity already so you could argue it’s already kicking off.”Click Here: Argentina football tracksuit