Rugby chiefs have suggested that the success of the Women’s Rugby World Cup show that breakaway leagues like the proposed R360 competition must work within the existing structures of the sport to succeed.
Nearly 450,000 tickets were sold for the World Cup in England over the last six weeks, surpassing even ambitious pre-tournament targets, with 50 percent of those in attendance new to women’s rugby.
The final between England and Canada was watched by 5.8m people on the BBC in the United Kingdom, recording the largest television audience for any rugby match this year as the Red Roses secured success on home soil.
The tournament has taken place with the proposed new R360 competition rumbling away in the background, though organisers of the franchise-style breakaway league have delayed their application for sanctioning from World Rugby, the game’s governing body, until next year.
120 pages of what have been described as detailed plans by insiders have already been submitted to the governing body, with proposals suggesting a 12-team global franchise competition hosted on a grand prix-esque global circuit to visit some of the world’s most attractive city locations.
Sources close to World Rugby have questioned, though, the plans for the an initial four women’s franchises and whether those behind R360, including former England rugby centre Mike Tindall, have considered the global calendar, which is different to in the men’s game.
While senior figures at the top of the sport are understood to be receptive to new investment in the game and the idea of a “disruptor” force, Alan Gilpin, World Rugby’s chief executive, has suggested that the World Cup has indicated the health of the game at the top level.
“Does rugby, and in this case women's rugby, need new investment? Absolutely,” Gilpin admitted. “Does rugby need to sort of tear up all of its existing structures and do it completely differently? I'd argue no, from what we've also seen in the last five weeks.
“I think we've seen that at the international game, at a World Cup, women's rugby can deliver incredible quality of product, incredible audiences, incredible experiences. So how do we bring new investment in a way that really works with that and not potentially works against that?
“I think there's a challenge. We know that a number of the nations playing in this Rugby World Cup have already said, and will continue to say, players who play in other leagues that aren't fitting with the schedules they have won't be chosen for their international teams. That's got to be a concern because we want them to see the best players in the world playing on the biggest stages.
“With the WXV Global Series, hopefully that certainty that we've provided now to national teams, federations, but also ultimately through to players is going to create that platform for investment to come into the sport in a way that I think can be additive to what we've got. Hopefully R360 can be part of that.”
The Red Roses are believed to be key targets for R360 as it looks to get off the ground, with a number of England players understood to have received offers from the new competition.
The World Cup winners are thought to have agreed to withhold discussions over deals until after the tournament, and are said to recognise their collective power as the game’s dominant force.
Women’s club rugby does present an opportunity for investment, though - even England’s world-leading Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) is a semi-professional competition, with its nine clubs bound to a salary cap of £220,000 last season.
The successful England squad members are believed to have earned a bonus of about £15,000 for securing World Cup triumph on home soil.
