Former ARU President returns to lead game as new Rugby Australia board Chair

The Rugby Australia Board has announced the appointed Paul McLean, President of the Australian Rugby Union from 2005 to 2009, as its news Chair, assuming the role from Cameron Clyne with immediate effect.

McLean will remain in the role on a short-term basis to enable the identified future Chair, who will be elected at the upcoming Rugby Australia AGM, to make a gradual transition into the role.

With Clyne set to step down from the Board at the AGM and several key projects underway, the Board has made the change to enable the incoming Director to gain an understanding of the people and key projects across the game before transitioning to Chair.

McLean is one of the Board’s most senior Directors, having served for the past eight years as a Board Director after his five-year stint as ARU President.

Clyne, who announced his intention to step down at the 2020 AGM in November last year, will remain on as a Board Director until the meeting on 30th March.

Announcing the change, McLean advised “the Board has collectively made the decision to make this change, with the full support of Cameron, to enable us to provide support and a comfortable transition for the new Chair following the AGM.

“As the most senior Director remaining on the Board beyond the AGM, I have accepted the Chairmanship during this transitional period.

The 31-Test former Wallaby said the Nominations Committee had interviewed several strong candidates for three vacant Director roles, adding “there are three vacant positions that the Nominations Committee are currently interviewing for, including the new Chairperson and there has been a very high level of interest and some high-quality candidates stepping forward for each of the roles.

“The Chair is a high-profile role and whoever is chosen and elected as the future Chair will benefit from having some time to build relationships and gain an understanding of all the major work happening across the Rugby landscape before they step into the role.

“Ultimately, there are some major pieces of work that are either nearing completion or getting underway, including the negotiations around the media rights, Rugby World Cup bid process, World Rugby positions, and a Collective Bargaining Agreement, and we believe this change will provide added stability at a crucial time for the business.”

The Rugby Australia statement included no comments from Clyne.

Image of Paul McLean courtesy of Alchetron.