Test rugby remains the pinnacle of the sport, and franchise leagues that do not offer players the opportunity to play it will hardly attract the best talent, World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin said on Tuesday. The global franchise league R360, led by former England center Mike Tindall, is scheduled for launch in 2026, and media reports have linked it to offers of large sums of money for the best rugby union and league players. According to reports, this has included Melbourne Storm star Ryan Papenhuyzen, who met with Tindall and other R360 executives while the British and Irish Lions were in Melbourne last week. Papenhuyzen is the third NRL player linked to a move to R360, after it was also reported that Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Kalyn Ponga were contacted by the emerging league. However, regarding World Rugby, Gilpin said he was open to dialogue with R360, and that the global game administrators welcomed any investment in the sport as long as it created a more financially sustainable game for players and the “broader ecosystem”.
Gilpin made these statements at the launch of the ticket sales program for the 2027 Rugby World Cup. “It’s not true in all sports, but in ours, the international game is the pinnacle of the game,” he added. “We have a very complicated calendar in global rugby, so it’s really important that anything that is approved and invested in gives the players that opportunity.” “And I think anything that doesn’t give players that opportunity, players will vote with their feet.”Our position is that, whatever competitions arise, we know that players want to play international rugby.
Alan Gilpin
“We have to make sure that, in any competition in which the players are going to play, they can participate in those great moments because they want to. And the fans… they want it.” However, Gilpin has left the door ajar for talks with R360 officials, particularly given the investment that could flow into rugby at a time when it is desperately needed. “We need to have a dialogue with those guys when they’re ready to do it,” Gilpin said. “We always say that rugby needs investment; Australia is a great example, isn’t it? “Rugby is in a really competitive environment around the world. All sports and beyond sport compete for an increasingly difficult attention economy. So investment in the game is great as long as that investment is directed to the right areas, as long as it’s creating a more financially sustainable game for the players, for the wider ecosystem, then we encourage it.” “But we have to understand what that means in the case of R360, I think.”Whatever the new concepts, whether R360 or otherwise, that are being discussed with the players… that whole concept of player release for defined international windows in our sport is key.
Alan Gilpin
