Rugby Australia reveals €1.57m of unapproved expenses were spent on World Cup

Over-spend on disastrous campaign ‘not acceptable’ ‘It was a cultural deficiency that we need to rectify,’ says Rugby Australia CEO

CRESTFALLEN: Australia's Tom Hooper after the Wallabies were knocked out of the 2023 World Cup.

Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh has revealed $2.6m (€1.57m) in unapproved expenses were invested in Eddie Jones’s disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign. While declining to single out Jones for blame, Waugh on Thursday said the over-spend was “unacceptable” and would not happen again.

“The over-investment that was unapproved was $2.6m, which covered three main elements, being team costs, staff travel and then player benefits,” Waugh said, adding that RA only found out the extent of the excess spending “retrospectively”.