Rugby’s new rebel league is making its move, with Wales players attracting interest
18:31, 29 Jul 2025Updated 18:36, 29 Jul 2025
Some Wales players have provisionally agreed to sign deals with th enew rebel league(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)
Wales’ top talents are targets for rugby’s proposed new rebel league, with a handful of Welsh players provisionally agreeing deals, WalesOnline has learnt.
R360 is a potential new rugby breakaway franchise league that wants to create ‘generational change in rugby’. It is being fronted by England World Cup winner Mike Tindall, former Bath director of rugby Stuart Hooper and agent Mark Spoors, among others.
The idea is to create 12 new franchise teams, with the best players in the world like Antoine Dupont prime targets. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
According to MailOnline Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group, Manchester United majority shareholders the Glazer family and Red Bull have expressed an interest in becoming owners of the proposed 12 franchises.
Despite Wales’ struggles at Test level and the fact it had only two players selected for this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour of Australia – Jac Morgan and Tomos Williams – there is significant interest from R360 in some Welsh players.
And R360’s ambition could yet be a threat to any plans Welsh rugby has of retaining and repatriating its best talent in Wales.
This summer the Welsh Rugby Union will undergo a consultation process ahead of a radical restructuring of the professional game in time for the 2027/28 season at the latest.
WalesOnline understands the WRU is likely to cut the number of professional sides from four to two in order to concentrate talent and money which will hopefully lead to significantly improved performances across the board.
The aim would be to have playing budgets in the region of £9m each, with the target of consistently competing for silverware which should improve the performance of the national team.
Wales already faces an uphill task of retaining and repatriating its best talent with French, English and Japanese clubs possessing deeper pockets.
But keeping players away from the clutches of R360 would also be a challenge, with wages expected to be in the region of £740,000 a season for the sport’s best players, while the average salaries in general would be far higher. Join WalesOnline Rugby’s WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free
According to MailOnline the league has set a deadline of September to sign up 200 players, with the first season expected to run between September and December 2026 with just eight games in total to begin with.
R360 also plans to give players 12 weeks off per year and fund two family trips per year to join the players in whatever part of the world they are based in with Tokyo, London, Dubai, Cape Town, Boston and Miami being mooted.
WalesOnline has been told there are a handful of Welsh players who have provisionally agreed to join R360 if it gets off the ground, although their identities are being kept under lock and key.
Wales’ only Test Lion this summer – Jac Morgan – is out of contract at the Ospreys at the end of this coming season, as is Dewi Lake, and it would be a surprise if neither of those were of interest to R360.
With the competition expected to run between September and December it would potentially interfere with the new World Rugby Nations Championship, although players would be available for the Six Nations.
But it is clearly a significant threat to the professional club game in the Northern Hemisphere.
“The position is that whatever competitions arise, we know players want to play international rugby,” said World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin.
“In our sport, the international game is the pinnacle of the game. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here.
“Players want to play in World Cups, they want to play in the Olympic games. We’re about to have an amazing women’s RWC that everyone is really excited about.
“We’ve got a tricky calendar in global rugby, but it’s important that whatever is getting endorsed and invested in gives players that opportunity.
“Whatever doesn’t give players that opportunity, the players will vote with their feet on that.
“Regulation Nine and that whole concept of player release for defined international windows is key.
“The Lions is one of those, the women’s Lions will be one of those in two years time, and the Olympic Games is one of those.
“Next year there will be a Nations Cup launched, and there will be a new version of the WXV global series launched, so we’ve got to make sure whatever competitions players are going to play in, they can play in those big moments. They want to and the fans want that too.”