Rugby - Force file appeal against Super Rugby axing

By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The Western Force have lodged a court appeal against their axing from Super Rugby, setting up a potentially costly legal showdown that the cash-strapped Australian Rugby Union (ARU) can ill afford. The ARU announced its intention to cull the Perth-based Force on Friday after committing to fielding only four sides from next season as Super Rugby contracts to 15 teams from 18. However, the governing body for rugby in Western Australia, Rugby WA, lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court of New South Wales on Monday. A hearing date had been fixed for Aug. 23, according to a court order seen by Reuters on Monday. Earlier on Monday, a spokesman for the Force and RugbyWA said the team had won an injunction order to prevent the ARU from moving to shut down the team but the Supreme Court's media department, citing chambers, said no such injunction had been granted. Billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest, who has publicly backed the Force and warned the ARU he would be first in line to fight any decision to axe the side, was named in the court order seen by Reuters. "We won," local media quoted Forrest as saying. "It is one small, moral victory in the long battle to save this great team but it is a good one to have over those who have shown total ruthlessness towards the players and the proud rugby community that stands behind them." The ARU declined to comment. The ARU had said in April they would cut either the Force or the Melbourne Rebels because of economic pressures and concerns about the competitiveness of the Australian teams. The battle over the Force's future threatens to disrupt governing SANZAAR's plans for the new Super Rugby season and overshadow the Wallabies' Rugby Championship campaign. SANZAAR was proceeding under the assumption that the competition would have 15 teams next season, a spokesman said, adding that they would release a statement on the tournament's structure later on Monday or Tuesday. The Force went into arbitration with the ARU two weeks ago, seeking to stave off their axing by arguing that they had signed an alliance agreement that guaranteed them Super Rugby until the end of the current broadcasting deal in 2020. But the arbitrator found in favour of the ARU, who contended that, with the competition contracting by three teams, a new broadcast agreement would be in place for 2018. Against a background of widespread dissatisfaction with the 18-team format, SANZAAR earlier this year agreed to remove three sides from the competition. South Africa have already culled the Cheetahs and Kings, who will move to play in the European Pro league. The Force joined the competition in 2006 with the aim of expanding rugby's imprint to Australia's west coast, but they have never reached the playoffs and battled financial pressures. The players face further uncertainty over their contracts, having competed for four months with the uncertainty hanging over the team. Some had wept when they heard the ARU had decided to axe the team, coach Dave Wessels told local media. "Everyone's pretty devastated ... People at this stage are pretty emotional," he said. Force and Wallabies winger Dane Haylett-Petty said he was "angry, confused, disappointed." "But as a group we're really sticking tight and the process is not done yet," he told local media at the Wallabies training camp in Sydney. (Additional reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Peter Rutherford/Amlan Chakraborty)