Former Foxtel boss Kim Williams has launched a scathing attack on Australian rugby union, describing the struggling code as a "low-value sport" and criticising its administrators for "astonishing self-entitlement".

The comments from Mr Williams, who was chief executive of News Corp's pay-TV service for a decade until 2011, come amid pressure on the leadership of Rugby Australia as it prepares for critical talks with broadcasters over its next television rights deal.

Wallabies players react to their World Cup quarter-final loss to England. Credit:Getty

"The issue with rugby that’s a challenge is the sense of self-entitlement from rugby itself," Mr Williams said in an interview on Wednesday with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. "Rugby seems to deem itself as inherently worthy and therefore deserving of mountains of money and that’s a major difference to the reality."

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age last month revealed rugby's long-running broadcast partner Foxtel had withdrawn its offer to renew rights to the Super Rugby competition and Wallabies Test matches.