A bidding race which began with seven Australian consortiums striving for a Super 15 licence will end with the Australian Rugby Union taking over the fight against South Africa's Southern Kings.

The ARU will submit their application for Melbourne to be admitted to the expanded competition from 2011 on Friday afternoon.

The controversial bid process got messier this week when the one-time preferred syndicate, VicSuper15, withdrew their interest in the licence on Wednesday.

VicSuper15 believed they had already gained ARU approval a fortnight ago when they presented to the ARU board in Sydney with the rival Victorian Rugby Union bid team.

In a statement, VicSuper15 cited an inability to work together with the VRU and a conflict of interest in the bid process for the consortium's withdrawal.

"The ARU will now construct and may have to fund an ownership model for the new entity and the structure will be separate from the VRU to enable it to focus on its core responsibilities of managing and growing Community Rugby," the statement read.

The governing body appears to have taken over the bid but an ARU spokesman dismissed a report the franchise would be headed by senior officials Matt Carroll and David Nucifora, as chief executive and coach respectively.

Neither VRU or VicSuper15 officials were prepared to comment on Thursday but still held hope they could be involved with the proposed team.

"We're continuing to work positively towards seeing the team established and ensuring an involvement for Victorian rugby in whatever way we can," said VRU chairman Gary Gray.

Both the ARU and South African Rugby Union will present their bids to SANZAR on October 21 before a decision is made between Melbourne or the Eastern Cape's Southern Kings for admission to the Super 15.

The successful team will play out of a five-team Australian conference, giving Melbourne the inside running due to financial and logistical reasons.

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