Rugby Australia sets out bold five-year goals

Rugby Australia has set itself the bold challenge of beating the British and Irish Lions, finishing in the top four of the 2027 and 2029 Rugby World Cups and with a 70 per cent success rate by 2029, winning the Bledisloe Cup every second year.

The lofty ambitions were among a suite of targets revealed in a new Rugby Australia five-year strategy paper called “Green to gold”, which was released on Tuesday morning.

The strategy, which has come after a series of high-performance summits among Australian rugby stakeholders, sets out the goals and standards Rugby Australia wants to achieve during the next five years, and the structure of how the game plans to do it.

RA’s strategy is covered under three key pillars identified – Performance Excellence, Participation Growth and Promotion Effectiveness.

After years of little silverware, and a rankings slide that sees the Wallabies living between the fifth and 10th teams in the world, the Performance Excellence section sets out the goal for the Wallabies and Wallaroos within the next five years to “play on the last weekend of the 2027 and 2029 Rugby World Cup”, increase the win percentages to 70 per cent, win medals at the LA Olympics in sevens and win two Super Rugby Pacific titles.

RA will also set the standard of success as winning the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship every second year, the strategy says.

RA also want to increase participation by 30 per cent in men’s rugby, and by 70 per cent in women’s rugby, and build a supporter base where 50 per cent of all Australians are active Wallabies and Wallaroos fans.

“All three pillars are interdependent and critical to a thriving rugby ecosystem,” RA chief executive Phil Waugh said in a statement. “And all have been developed in collaboration with member unions, Super Rugby clubs and RUPA.