Eight of world rugby’s leading national unions have issued a strongly worded joint statement urging players and staff to exercise “extreme caution” over joining the proposed R360 rugby competition, warning that doing so would make them ineligible for international selection.
The statement, signed by the unions of Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England, Scotland, France, and Italy, represents one of the most unified positions taken in global rugby outside of the World Rugby structure.
What is R360?
The proposed R360 tournament is understood to be a privately financed, global competition aimed at attracting elite men’s and women’s players through high-value contracts and player equity stakes.
The concept appears modelled on disruptive formats seen in other sports, such as LIV Golf, positioning itself as a player-driven, commercially independent rival to the existing rugby ecosystem.
However, it remains unclear how R360 intends to fit within the already crowded rugby calendar, or how it would interact with existing international and domestic competitions. No details have been provided on governance, scheduling, or player welfare structures.
Unions Warn of Risks to Rugby’s Structure and Values
The eight unions emphasised that while they welcome innovation and new investment, any venture that undermines the sport’s foundations, including player pathways, national representation, and community rugby, poses a significant risk to the global game.
They also criticised R360’s organisers for failing to consult or engage with unions, saying the lack of transparency left too many unanswered questions about the competition’s long-term sustainability and its impact on rugby’s ecosystem.
Full Joint Statement from the National Rugby Unions
“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.”
The joint statement sends a clear message to R360’s organisers that the major stakeholders of the sport will resist any attempt to establish a breakaway circuit that sits outside the current framework.
R360’s backers are expected to release further details in the coming weeks, outlining their commercial model and competition structure.
However, with all leading test nations now signalling that players joining R360 would forfeit international eligibility, the project faces a significant challenge in recruiting the level of elite talent needed to gain traction.
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