{"id":76071,"date":"2025-05-05T09:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/76071\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T09:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:09:12","slug":"super-rugby-considering-usa-expansion-as-world-rugby-gets-edgy-over-looming-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/76071\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Rugby considering USA expansion as World Rugby gets edgy over looming World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Super Rugby Pacific could expand to the west coast of the United States of America, with high-level talks underway across several countries about the viability of including at least one new franchise in the competition as a means to help boost the flagging nation\u2019s performance ahead of the 2031 men\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

The Roar can reveal that World Rugby chairman Brett Robinson and CEO Alan Gilpin met with officials in Los Angeles about the proposal.<\/p>\n

At the heart of World Rugby\u2019s interest in the expansion is to ensure the United States has a competitive national side by the time the World Cup moves to the Americas for the first time. It comes after the USA Eagles missed qualification for the first time in 2023 \u2013 five years after Major League Rugby started in 2018.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood World Rugby is edgy when considering the United States\u2019 prospects of holding a successful World Cup.<\/p>\n

The Roar can reveal that it was only during this year\u2019s Hong Kong Sevens that World Rugby decided to back their decision to award the USA the men\u2019s (2031) and women\u2019s World Cups (2033) respectively.<\/p>\n

Until then, World Rugby was strongly considering pushing the men\u2019s World Cup in the United States back to 2035 to give the nation a longer lead-in and awarding a traditional power in the United Kingdom and Ireland the 2031 tournament. It would also allow them to build off the women\u2019s World Cup in 2033, which will also be played in the USA.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, World Rugby decided to back their bet and go all-in on the USA.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

World Rugby will meet with officials at the LA Sevens this week to discuss whether a side could in America could join Super Rugby. (Photo by Brendon Thorne \u2013 World Rugby\/World Rugby via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Since then, World Rugby has actively taken a vested interest in how rugby in the United States is governed, so it can make some progress in an increasingly competitive international rugby market.<\/p>\n

As reported, World Rugby has made significant investment into MLR, including Anthem Rugby Carolina, which is predominantly made up of homegrown talent.<\/p>\n

And while the venture has provided game time to players who would not have played MLR before its existence, the side hasn\u2019t won a game in three years, including the opening 11 matches this year, and is going backwards on the field.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the US Eagles and Canada have failed to improve since the MLR was introduced in 2018.<\/p>\n

Not only is the homegrown talent being spread too thin, but several top-tier players are playing abroad, particularly in England, while games are jarringly long and aren\u2019t being helped by water breaks midway through halves despite the competition taking outside of the summer months.<\/p>\n

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Super Rugby officials are considering whether a US side could add value to the competition, with World Rugby keen to get rugby in the USA firing ahead of the 2031 World Cup. (Photo by Clive Rose \u2013 World Rugby\/World Rugby via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As such, World Rugby\u2019s interest has been piqued if one or two teams can follow in the footsteps of the Drua or Jaguares, who were backed by the governing body because the Super Rugby sides provided a direct pathway directly to the national team.<\/p>\n

Several cities on the US west coast are being looked at, including Los Angeles and San Diego and even Utah and Glendale (Colorado). New stadiums have also been built in Hawaii, while another is being built in Seattle.<\/p>\n

However, California, which hosted the World Series final in LA over the weekend, looks most likely to be supported by World Rugby because of the state\u2019s global destination with suitable flight options from The Pacific.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, several high-profile rugby stars, including French captain Antoine Dupont, have been to LA recently and worn Rugby FC Los Angeles merchandise. It came after he helped France break their World Series drought in the city last year.<\/p>\n

Quade Cooper was also seen in LA during his time while contracted in Japan and recently with his fashion label, Shosai.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Antoine Dupont has been seen wearing RFCLA attire in recent months since returning from Los Angeles. Photo: Twitter<\/p>\n

There have also been MLR players looking to embark on team ownership, with All Blacks great Ma\u2019a Nonu being announced as part-owner of the San Diego Legion, as well as native Californians and Seattle Seahawks players Marshawn Lynch and Marcus Peters joining MLR ownership group.<\/p>\n

The Roar understands several officials and investment groups have met with New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia in the last 12 months about being included in an expanded Super Rugby Pacific competition. Officials are also considering whether US representation in an expanded Super Rugby Women\u2019s competition could work, especially given the nation will also host the women\u2019s World Cup in 2033.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s believed both parties are interested in the potential markets it could open, especially the NZR and All Blacks, who last year played Fiji in San Diego in front of a sold-out crowd, and are once again set to play in front of record crowd at Solider Field in Chicago against Ireland in November.<\/p>\n

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Super Rugby is enjoying its most competitive season since 2015. (Photo by Michael Bradley\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The desire to look closer to the USA comes after the NZR signed a $NZ200m deal with US private equity firm Silver Lake.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood some officials are open to an additional 12th Super Rugby side being included over the next year or two, but some sources have told The Roar that 2028 \u2013 the year after the World Cup in Australia \u2013 is a more realistic start date.<\/p>\n

However, neither New Zealand or Australia wants to invite financial risk into the equation.<\/p>\n

While Super Rugby previously lost its way by expanding too widely too quickly, the prospect of a new side joining from the west coast of America would at least marry up from a time zone perspective.<\/p>\n

Importantly, any new side would need to have considerable US representation, with top-tier players like AJ MacGinty repatriated. However, it\u2019s also known that they would need to be propped up by quality internationals.<\/p>\n

Already, the MLR is flooded with Super Rugby players and coaches.<\/p>\n

Australian rugby greats Matt Giteau and Adam Ashley-Cooper also enjoyed stints there at the end of their careers, while fellow Wallabies Jed Holloway and Christian Lealiifano recently joined MLR.<\/p>\n

The competition has also drawn huge interest with many players from SANZAAR\u2019s Rugby Championship, with strong Argentine representation in Miami.<\/p>\n

Junior Wallabies star Mack Mason, who had a short career with the Waratahs before moving to MLR, encouraged RA to look to loan players out to the competition as a way to speed up their development in an interview with The Roar earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely a lot better player than I was when I was in Australia, and I sort of wish a lot more people that are on the fringes can go play week-in, week-out professional rugby in America,\u201d Mason said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a loan system would work well over there with an Australian team, but that\u2019s just the way I think.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Super Rugby Pacific could expand to the west coast of the United States of America, with high-level talks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[37482,1123,37483,5342,37484,49,978,659,37485],"class_list":{"0":"post-76071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-all-blacks","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-major-league-rugby","11":"tag-rugby-union","12":"tag-super-rugby-pacific-2025","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa","16":"tag-wallabies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114454447091191189","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}