Force win right to appeal Super Rugby axing

Rugby Western Australia has been granted the chance to appeal against the Western Force's Super Rugby axing, with an appeal being heard on Wednesday.

The Force met the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) in court on Wednesday and it didn't take long for the Supreme Court to grant the West Australian body leave for appeal against the arbitration decision that went against them, allowing the governing body to move to axe the franchise.

Its appeal will be heard on Wednesday, after written submissions from the Force and ARU were reviewed.

Billionaire backer Andrew Forrest met with ARU board members in Adelaide on Tuesday, with the national body turning down an offer of grassroots investment believed to be $50 million, to keep the Force alive.

The Force have said they would look into Asia should their appeal fail, with Forrest saying the ARU had agreed to support that bid in their meeting on Tuesday.

RugbyWA are arguing the ARU did not have the right to axe the Force under the terms of an alignment deal that was struck in 2016.

In that deal, which was effectively a takeover, the ARU guaranteed the Force's future until at least 2020 when the broadcast deal ended.

But the ARU successfully argued in arbitration that the broadcast deal has since been renegotiated, since the Super Rugby tournament will be restructured from 18 participating teams to to 15.

With the broadcast deal tweaked because there are fewer teams in the competition, the ARU claim they had the right to axe the Force.

The size of Forrest's offer to the ARU has stunned the rugby public.

Forrest also guaranteed to bankroll any potential future losses by the Force.

But the ARU said it is impossible for them to reinstate the Force because SANZAAR had already eliminated a 16-team Super Rugby tournament for a numerous reasons.

"These factors included the extensive cost and limited appeal of a 16-team round-robin competition, player welfare issues due to extra travel requirements, and the loss of popular home and away 'derbies' in each country," ARU chairman Cameron Clyne told AAP.

"We were genuinely appreciative of Andrew's generous offer to back the Western Force and Australian Rugby.

"However, given the position we are in, we are unable to work towards retaining five teams in Super Rugby."