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18th October 2025
02:04pm BST
The proposed R360 league has caused waves in rugby union, with fears that it may attract some of the biggest names in the game.
Similar to the LIV Golf Tour, it is a breakaway league that will use a condensed format, and play games around the world.
Headed by former England international, Mike Tindall, it is aiming to kick off in October 2026 at Barcelona's Nou Camp.
While it has failed so far to officially secure any big names, a report from RugbyPass says that a 'massive offer' has been put to Ireland and Leinster's Jamison Gibson-Park.
The Lions scum-half is out of contract at the end of the season, and given the relatively low wages in rugby compared to some other sports, it would be tough to say no.
However, this would scupper his chances of representing Ireland at the 2027 World Cup, which he will likely play in despite being 35 by the time it rolls around.
Earlier this month, a joint statement the national rugby unions of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, England, Scotland, France and Italy, warned players against signing up for R360.
It reads: “As a group of national rugby unions, we are urging extreme caution for players and support staff considering joining the proposed R360 competition.
“We all welcome new investment and innovation in rugby; and support ideas that can help the game evolve and reach new audiences; but any new competition must strengthen the sport as a whole, not fragment or weaken it.
“Among our roles as national unions, we must take a wider view on new propositions and assess their impact on a range of areas, including whether they add to rugby’s global ecosystem, for which we are all responsible, or whether they are a net negative to the game.
“R360 has given us no indication as to how it plans to manage player welfare; how players would fulfil their aspirations of representing their countries, and how the competition would coexist with the international and domestic calendars so painstakingly negotiated in recent years for both our men’s and women’s games.
“The R360 model, as outlined publicly, rather appears designed to generate profits and return them to a very small elite, potentially hollowing out the investment that national unions and existing leagues make in community rugby, player development, and participation pathways.
“International rugby and our major competitions remain the financial and cultural engine that sustains every level of the game — from grassroots participation to elite performance. Undermining that ecosystem could be enormously harmful to the health of our sport.
“These are all issues that would have been much better discussed collaboratively, but those behind the proposed competition have not engaged with or met all unions to explain and better understand their business and operating model.
“Each of the national unions will therefore be advising men’s and women’s players that participation in R360 would make them ineligible for international selection.”
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