Four high-profile Sydney University players, 24 hours into their grand final celebrations, sitting in a Double Bay institution, faces buried in their phones, wage verbal warfare on behalf of their maligned club.

It started with a provocative Facebook post from a friend fed up with Uni's dominance (the club has won eight of the past nine Shute Shield titles).

''Sydney University are ruining Australian club rugby,'' Liam O'Meara, who works in the Fairfax advertising department, contended. It didn't take long for the first bite.

Cosily tucked into The Golden Sheaf on New South Head Road - but clearly more interested in their Facebook accounts than the company - a Wallaby, two current Super Rugby players and one club leading light rushed to its defence.

A couple were considered and thoughtful, one affronted and miffed. One other was outraged and abusive. The comments, since cleansed of the contributions from the high-profile players, went viral.

In some ways it was heartening to see players going hard at some of the biggest issues confronting club rugby. In other ways it was simply great entertainment.

Take the following exchange between the Wallaby and two random commentators:

Random 1: ''[Redacted] do I need to bring up the [Wallabies vs] Samoa game? Enjoy forced retirement u pretender.''

Wallaby: ''Thanks [redacted], are we going to swap jerseys as well? Wallaby jersey for a Petersham 3rd grade jersey? Tell your story walking pal.''

Random 2: A Petersham jersey might be a higher value object at the moment [redacted].''

Ouch. Last word goes to Anthony Bergelin, a Manly Marlins supporter who cut through the abuse and defensiveness to deliver this nice (edited) summation:

''Sydney University have adapted to the transition from the amateur to professional era better than any other club side. Their success is the blue print for many other clubs each and every year. As a board member at Manly we always look at what University do so well.

''[But] when I see young [Manly junior] Tom Kingston start for University in the grand final it's tough for us because you've watched this kid play in all your junior teams and rep sides and we want to see our local kids playing for their own hometown club. Nobody at Manly would begrudge somebody like Tom for his decision, we'd all do the same thing! We simply can't match what Uni can offer. Having the ability to cherry pick the creme de la creme of all schoolboy rugby stars is hardly a level playing field. The Israel Folau signing was a slap in the face of the competition and the justification of a sponsored scholarship reeks of a 3rd party payment.

''Uni are an exceptionally well run club but has an embarrassment of riches at their disposal in terms of players, infrastructure and financial capacity. To the Uni boys, well done, best team in the comp, nobody is going to argue that point, but is this really a sporting fairytale or is this in your job description?''

Money troubles

Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver wasn't bluffing when he told Sydney premier rugby club presidents last week that, if the ARU didn't make serious changes, it would be, to paraphrase, flat broke in two years.

Having crammed ARU headquarters onto the ground floor of its St Leonards office, picked up a money-making fifth Test for the spring tour and absorbed a $50 million windfall from the British and Irish Lions tour, the cost-cutting continues.

The Breakdown understands the redundancy tally is up to 15, taking in the ticketing team, staff from the now-defunct academies, plus others. At the same time, the ARU is talking about a Super Rugby development competition, a national club championship, sevens rugby innovations and schoolboy programs, all important structural changes designed, ultimately, to enhance the size and quality of Australia's elite player pool.

But how to pay for it all? Next month is crunch time, when Pulver and his management team find out exactly what they will have to work with and what they can do with it.

Outsider's view

Nice bit of sense from Waratahs coach Michael Cheika this week when asked what he thought of the Wallabies' horror run so far under Ewen McKenzie.

''I have been back here for a year only, but there is far too much … almost like scrutiny to find a negative. Sometimes in the game of rugby things just don't go well,'' he said.

''It's part of the character of the team that you have to get out of that rhythm and it's happened to every team on the planet - whether it's the San Francisco 49ers, the Melbourne Storm, the Rabbitohs or Randwick when I played with them.

''Every team that has quality has these little troughs and it's about the character of the teams in getting out of it. I don't think there is any advantage of other coaches saying, 'He needs to be doing this, or that'.

''Everyone is a genius when you are on the outside. You have to make the right decisions when you are on the inside. I have too much respect for Ewen … I didn't [comment] when [Robbie] Deans was there and I won't be doing it now.''