‘Highest-profile’ Springboks sign up for rebel league as R360 turn attention to Ardie Savea
Springboks huddle and an inset of All Blacks star Ardie Savea.
Rebel league, R360, has secured the signing of four leading Springboks, according to a report.
The breakaway competition fronted by ex-England centre Mike Tindall, Bath executive Stuart Hooper, Mark Spoors, an executive at Wasserman, and former LIV Golf lawyer John Loffhagen aims to be a tier above club rugby.
R360 plans to shake up the rugby landscape and has begun recruiting players with the target of starting the tournament in September 2026.
The concept of the league is set to played in ‘grand prix’-style events around the world with eight men’s teams, and four women’s teams to compete in a condensed season format around the globe, including locations such as Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Nou Camp and Sao Paulo, while New York and Los Angeles have also been mentioned.
Four Springboks sign up
It draws upon the Indian Premier League (IPL) and LIV Golf as sporting disruptors and has reportedly received interest from backers across the Premier League, Formula One and the NFL.
R360 has set a target of contracting 200 men’s players and, in a major coup, Telegraph Sport reports that four ‘of the highest-profile Springboks‘ have signed legally binding pre-contractual agreements.
The quartet’s signatures reportedly take the tally of men’s players to 160, with the league understood to have All Blacks star Ardie Savea on its radar as R360 surges towards its target with the launch planned for September 2026.
While the four Bok players have not been named by the publication, it did state that double Rugby World Cup winner Cheslin Kolbe is not one of them, as the speedster plans to return to South Africa once his contract with Japanese club Suntory Sungoliath expires.
Positive talks during the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia accelerated progress of the league, and one insider told the Telegraph that the R360 concept had been met with enthusiasm from governing bodies and players’ unions.
Additionally, no current All Blacks have signed for the league, the report states, but ex-All Blacks based outside of New Zealand have, along with players from Argentina, Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Ten players who have represented England at senior level over the past year have also signed pre-contractual agreements with the league, prioritising slightly older players, but are interested in luring rising stars like Henry Pollock and Wallace Sititi.
While R360 would shake up the club rugby landscape, it has stressed that it wants its players to be available for internationals and will preserve a gap in its calendar for future Lions tours.
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