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Former Ospreys boss Andrew Hore has labelled the Guinness Pro12 TV contract “a joke”.

The Kiwi, who is now chief executive at the Waratahs in Australia, says the Pro12 teams must be given the freedom to strike a better deal, following the example of the French and English clubs.

A new Top14 TV rights agreement was struck with Canal Plus last week which will see France’s top teams receive around £75m a year.

And last year, Premiership Rugby announced a new six year deal with BT which was “a significant increase” on the previous £38m a year package.

In contrast, the PRO12 brings in around £11.5m a year, with a number of broadcasters sharing the rights.

“That’s just a joke,” Hore told ESPN.

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“That’s where England and France have been smart, in so far as they’ve allowed their clubs to go and create something special, whereas the Pro 12 hasn’t allowed their clubs to do anything to date.

“They must try to get them to gain some autonomy to grow their competition to compete against the English.

“The major problem at Ospreys is the same as the major problem here...TV revenue.

“The Welsh, Scots, Irish, Italians, Africans, Kiwis, Argentineans and the Australians all have the same issue- which is domestically TV is probably not generating as much revenue as you would like.

“If those eight nations, and also throw in Japan, US and the emerging powerhouses, can band together, we could come up with something which rivals what they got up north, but keeps international rugby as the pinnacle.”

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Hore is a strong advocate of Celtic teams competing in a Super Rugby style competition along with sides from the southern hemisphere.

“What TV loves is really good play-off series,” said the former Wales conditioning coach.

“So you could have South Africa and the Celtic teams playing in one Super Rugby conference, same time zone, New Zealand, Japan and Australia in another time zone and while you wouldn’t do it initially, you could also have a second tier European conference, and a United States conference.

“After that in September-October you go back into international rugby. What I would look at is the team which finishes first in the southern hemisphere earlier in the year plays the first team in northern hemisphere in a play off, and make it a three test tour.

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(Image: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

“Two plays two, three plays three, four plays four and so on. These play-offs must surely generate some significant TV revenue.”

Under Hore’s model, the traditional end-of-season tours of the southern hemisphere by northern hemisphere countries - such as Wales’ impending trip to New Zealand - would be scrapped.

“You are giving the public blocks of time, and meaningful competitions.... not these terrible friendlies in June,” he said.

“There’s a bit of bubble and squeak about this England tour of Australia next month, because Eddie Jones is coming back to town, and it’s a three-Test series.

“But what do we generally get? A two test series against Scotland, which we know we’re probably going to put 30 or 40 on because their club rugby isn’t strong enough, and we’re really just involved in a warm-up game before the big event - All Blacks and Australia.

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“This model means that England and France can keep their traditional season. The only thing they miss out on is the end-of-year-tour, but they still get to be part of the global competition - Six Nations and they have their November Tests.

“They can go and play their season from August to June, and the Celtic nations can still change theirs to the summer, which I’d imagine would be very alluring to TV networks.

“You can allow France and England to remain selfish, and do whatever they want. If they don’t want to be involved, let them do their own thing. But as we’re struggling financially, we should come up with something that works for us.

“And if we want to be like AFL, we’ve got to go to the TV people with a more attractive package. If you can get a TV deal right, it can bring in multi-millions. Also remember the one thing we’ve got over AFL and rugby league is that we are a global sport. So why aren’t we thinking global?”