The breakaway league will rip up the sport as we know it with some big names said to be already on board
R360 is being fronted by England World Cup winner Mike Tindall(Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
Four top South Africa internationals have reportedly signed up to play in the proposed new R360 league, with the rebel competition seeing an explosion in interest in recent weeks.
Fronted by England World Cup winner Mike Tindall and former Bath director of rugby Stuart Hooper, among others, R360 is a potential new breakaway franchise league that wants to create ‘generational change in rugby’. It is proposed that 12 new franchise teams, boasting the world’s top rugby talent, will be created, with players reportedly being offered contracts worth up to around $1 million (£740,000) per season.
Under R360’s plans, players will play just eight games in the first season as the league gets off the ground, while they will be given 12 weeks off per year. They will be based around the world, with Tokyo, London, Dubai, Cape Town, Boston and Miami being touted as potential franchise locations.
With the first season planned to run between September and December 2026, the league has set a deadline of next month to sign up 200 players and, according to the latest reports, it looks as though they will meet it following a surge in interest. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby
According to Telegraph Sport, positive talks held with governing bodies and players’ unions during the recent British & Irish Lions tour has seen progress over the new league accelerate, with around 160 players reportedly signing legally-binding pre-contractual agreements.
There is now confidence that, as one source told the publication, “the plane is going to get off the runway”, with the key question now being whether the league will work in practice.
To that end, some serious firepower has reportedly been acquired for the league, with four of the highest-profile Springboks said to be on board. While their identities are yet to be revealed, it is understood that the quartet does not include Cheslin Kolbe, who is reportedly looking to return to South Africa from Japan.
Those acquisition comes after 10 recent England internationals were also reported as having signed deals with R360, with players from Argentina, Australia and the Pacific Islands said to be heavily involved on the current roster too.
It also follows reports that Wales international Louis Rees-Zammit has agreed to be a part of the rebel league following his return to rugby from the NFL.
Skipper Jac Morgan has also emerged as a major target for the project, which has already seen a handful of Welsh players provisionally agree deals.
The Telegraph report also claims that while All Blacks back-rower Ardie Savea has also been the subject of talks to join the breakaway competition, no current members of the New Zealand squad have signed up.
However, some All Blacks based outside New Zealand are thought to have agreed to be involved.
It adds that the league has found it more difficult to make headway in securing some big Irish names for the project, although there has reportedly been traction in France in recent weeks.
R360 is not just targeting rugby union’s finest either, with a string of National Rugby League (NRL) stars also being linked with switching codes to join up.
Recent reports from Australia claim that one such talent, the South Sydney Rabbitohs’ Jye Gray, has been offered around $929,000 AD (£450,000) to do just that, with the 21-year-old not denying the speculation.
In response, Gray’s coach Wayne Bennett has warned that the rebel league was becoming a “huge threat” to the NRL, as he admitted they would never be able to compete financially.
“Look at the golf,” he said. “Who would have thought LIV would be a threat, but it is. The amount of money they have paid, we will never be able to match them [R360] if they are serious about the amount of money they have to spend.
“Where does this end for the NRL? The game has to address this and come up with a plan. We’d be foolish to suck our thumbs and hope to God it goes away.”