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Nothing new on the 'Rugby Future Fund' announced late last year, just restating the $100m goal. When they did all the publicity for it they'd raised an initial $12 million. I'd assume it hasn't been as successful as hoped otherwise they'd mention it.

Proof of concept could even just be 1 week, 2~ hours each night. Single round robin and finals. Decent cash bonus for the winners and/or some other perk.

I think that longer format was imagining a more traditional sporting league with all teams traveling around playing home and away. Whereas for the RPL the games will be 23-30 minutes in total duration, but it'll still be all teams playing at the same venue. They wouldn't want to go too high with...

https://www.thestatesman.com/sports/rugby-premier-league-to-start-on-june-1-with-six-teams-30-foreign-players-1503416276.html

Apparently 16 minute matches divided into four quarters, with the clock being stopped 'for each transgression, decision, and injury.' Will be interesting to see if it finds a tv audience in India. Seems like the right sort of idea for a sevens league, short and sharp over a couple of weeks with...

At one end of the spectrum they don't have much trouble recruiting many thousands of construction and service workers from poor countries, and at the other they also don't have much trouble recruiting highly paid professionals from western countries either. A couple hundred rugby players...

I think the player market is probably big enough, especially if they're only recruiting for 1 or 2 teams each rather than for a league of teams in each country. I'd think South Africa would be the primary source of talent. If you think about the size of their player pool they have relatively...

Wouldn't sit well, but I guess they could each recruit ~50 promising young players from poorer rugby nations by 2030 to live and play there in a professional environment so that they're all eligible by 2035. Qatar have done something similar, on a bigger scale, for their soccer team (and they've...

I read it's a potential joint bid with Qatar and UAE. I'm sure if they're willing to spend double anyone else they'll probably get it. But surely it wouldn't be possible if all 3 national teams must be automatic participants in the tournament.

I agree, and an ANZAC Bledisloe would be by far the biggest annual event possible. But if NZ aren't coming to the party immediately, then creating a precedent of a special event/match on ANZAC day is still possible, and may make it more likely for NZ to change their tune in future. Especially as...

Maybe RA should organise to play a state of origin match on ANZAC day instead. Or a Wallabies vs Barbarians/All Stars. Tell NZR we'll need a couple of half rounds for super rugby regardless of their position on the ANZAC Bledisloe.

It'd be a bit different to the old 3 game series given the gap between ANZAC Day and the Rugby Championship. Some years (when there's a truncated Rugby Championship) they might still only do 2 total. I think it's a no brainer, it'd be massive for both unions. Sure, 2-4 Super Rugby teams with...

Wow surprising result, especially with that margin and away from home. Do you know how many pro players Belgium have? I'd guess there must be at least a few in the top 14 who'd qualify for them by ancestry who haven't played for them before too. Last year Belgium toured South America and were...

Ireland may be the bigger draw in cities like Chicago and Boston where there's large populations of Irish Americans. There's actually a lot more Irish Americans than there are Irish in Ireland. Most descend from 19th century immigrants but there's still a pretty strong cultural connection for many.

I don't think any of the 6 nations unions will ever allow promotion/relegation, the cost of relegation would be too high. Maybe if it changed to 4 teams per division (home and away within your division each year), so that the 2nd division was still strong and commercially valuable. But I think...

Georgia, Spain, Portugal and Romania now all qualified - the next 2 weeks will determine how they are seeded as Europe 1-4. Europe 5 (either Netherlands or Belgium barring a huge upset) will make the final qualifying tournament. Hopefully Spain didn't play anyone ineligible this time!! They...

The funds that have inspired this idea (Future Generation Australia and Future Generation Global) have combined assets under management of over $1.2 billion and are 9-10 years old. So it's not outside the realms of possibility.

I'm not against dates being moved, just making the point that French club rugby has been incredibly important to the growth of global rugby, regardless of the motivation. I would argue that France actually has the best balance between club and international rugby out of anyone, because both...

Because it allows their very very top players to be highly paid stars and still represent Fiji in their most important games, making them considerably more competitive. Top 14 is a big dog in the sport, world rugby needs a calendar that doesn't clash with it for important series. Yes Fiji now...

Yes because they didn't pick their French based players for the Pacific Nations Cup due to it clashing with the Top 14 (which employs its top players). Compare that to their world cup squad, and particularly their starting team in big games.