Rebel rugby union competition R360 is in complete disarray.
Yet to publicly sign any players and with doubts continuing to swirl around financial viability, R360 organisers have announced a shock backflip with the proposed starting date pushed back by two years until 2028.
R360 had previously been scheduled to begin a 12-week season starting next October.
According to one of the central figures behind R360, former England World Cup captain Mike Tindall, the delay was a strategic decision based on timing.
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“Launching under compressed timelines would not meet the standards we set for R360, nor would it deliver the long-term commercial impact that the sport deserves,” Tindall said in a statement.
“As a board we remain absolutely determined to bring R360 to life at full scale and with maximum global impact. We’re building something bold and new that will resonate globally – and we cannot wait to show the world in 2028.”
Unsurprisingly the news has brought a wave of immediate ‘I told you so’ delight from key figures across the NRL community, including Phil Gould who appears to have spent his entire Friday night posting laughing emojis to retrospective R360 posts on X.
While the R360 threat is gone, at least for now, the latest news throws a considerable cloud over the future of stars such as Ryan Papenhuyzen and Zac Lomax who had already departed their NRL clubs this off-season in what was widely believed to be preparation for joining the rebel competition later in 2026.
You get the feeling we haven’t quite heard the last of R360 just yet.
R360... What a friggin' joke.
— Andrew Voss (@AndrewVossy) November 28, 2025