Queensland Rugby Union chairman Peter Lewis says that there is no room for the Gold Coast on the Super 15 map. That is the message he told a meeting of rugby’s powerbrokers on Tuesday
Lewis was however reluctant to detail exactly what it was that he told a Sydney gathering of the country’s Super Rugby chairmen and chief executives in the company of Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O’Neill.
“Yes, I did raise all the concerns about the Gold Coast being so close to the Reds market up the highway,” Lewis told the Courier Mail.
“It was a full and frank meeting across a vast number of issues that concern all the Super 14 sides.”
When the Force started in 2005 the player raids that Queensland suffered contributed to an already-shaky Reds outfit plunging even further and the fear is that it could happen again – especially if the new team was so close to the Reds base.
John O’Neill has gone on record saying that he feels that Australia has enough talent to fill a new team if they get a few offshore players back and mix in a few Pacific Islanders.
