Rugby Australia has joined forces with seven other major rugby nations to take a united stance against the proposed R360 competition.
The joint statement released by the IRFU on Wednesday (AEST) was co-signed by the governing bodies of New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, England, Scotland, France, and Italy, marking an unprecedented show of alignment among the sport’s powerhouses.
“As a group of national rugby unions, we are urging extreme caution for players and support staff considering joining the proposed R360 competition,” the statement read.
“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.”
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Set to launch next year, the privately backed R360 competition has reportedly approached players across multiple codes, including current Wallabies and NRL athletes in an effort to build its roster.
However, the unions said they had received no assurances about player welfare, eligibility pathways, or how the league would fit within established international and domestic calendars.
“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 statement continued.
The unions expressed concern that the proposed model appears to prioritise profit for a small group of investors at the expense of the game’s broader ecosystem.
“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,” the statement said.
“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.”
The statement concluded by confirming that players who sign with R360 will not be eligible for international selection unless further discussions and clarifications are made.
“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 statement said.