National Rugby Championship side New South Wales Country Eagles Owner Rick Hutchison has devised a plan to "relocate the Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby team" to regional centers in NSW and Queensland if the "financially struggling franchise folds," according to Bret Harris of THE AUSTRALIAN. The Rebels have been "supported financially by the ARU since the departure of a private consortium" last year. While the ARU is "keen to maintain a Super Rugby team in Melbourne and will continue to back the Rebels next year," it acknowledged its financial support of the '11 expansion franchise was "unsustainable in the long-term, which means it will have to become self-reliant to survive." Hutchison, the major private equity investor in the NSW Country franchise, was "interested in taking over" the Rebels' Super Rugby license should it become available, "but would not operate a team in Melbourne." He said, "I'd rather see the game be strong where it is strong. I'd like to see it in country NSW and Queensland across the whole lot playing games in four or five big centers" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/20).
