JRFU to press ahead with league plan amid World Cup fever

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

https://www.sportbusiness.com/2019/...re-readies-to-run-federation-like-a-business/

Japan's Rugby Football Union wants to move quickly ahead with plans for a new domestic league that would attract international stars, to capitalise on the excitement created by the national team's World Cup performances.

Nikkei reports that JRFU vice president Katsuyuki Kiyomiya said he will hold a news conference in Tokyo on November 18 to set out the plans for a competition that would launch by Autumn 2021.

TL;DR

12 team league hoping to generate annual revenue of €420m run from August through January hoping to pick up a bunch of Super Rugby players.

This is hugely exciting news if Japan can capitalize on their success in 2019. The more viable pro leagues the better.

Edit: Where do they get their players from? My best guess is they'll pick up older established stars from around the world, south sea islanders and raid the NRL.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Well they already snagged a bunch of Saffas like Duane Vermeulen, Willie Le Roux, RG Snyman & Lood de Jager to name a few...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Lood de Jager

Excuse you

 

[TRF_heineken]

Excuse you

sorry. My bad. He signed with Sale. Jason Jenkins signed for a japan club.

so many Bulls players are going to Japan, i forgot some are going to Europe

 

[mdaclarke]

If it is August to January then this would seemingly marry perfectly with Super Rugby. It may help SA and NZ keep players.

January to June = Super Rugby
June to July = Rugby Championship
August to January = Japanese League

 

[Brigantine]

Isn't this just a re-branding of the Japan Top League, but with fewer teams and more sponsors?

Where do they get their players from?

It's designed to not overlap with Super Rugby, so as with the Japan Top League, many players will play (almost?) full seasons in both Super Rugby and Japan, instead of Super Rugby and Mitre 10 / ARC / Currie. They'll only miss out on actual Rugby Championship international players.

I think the Top League will continue to overlap with the Rugby Championship, but maybe not the July and November test windows, when Japan will also be playing tests.
IIRC Mitre 10 / ARC / Currie all overlap with TRC. But Global Rapid Rugby overlaps / competes with Super Rugby.

In other news on the same site, NZRU is investing its pile of gold it has lying around in Sky TV, and hopes to make a fortune off of a reversal in fortunes for satellite broadcasting.
What the hell are they thinking? This is gonna be a disaster.

 

[TRF_heineken]

If it is August to January then this would seemingly marry perfectly with Super Rugby. It may help SA and NZ keep players.

January to June = Super Rugby
June to July = Rugby Championship
August to January = Japanese League

That's already happening. RG Snyman as an example, played in the Japanese league last year prior to this year's Super Rugby tournament started. A lot of SA Super Rugby players are taking the 3-month contracts the Japanese leagues are offering in order to be available for the Super Rugby squads, instead of going to the NH.

 

[unrated]

The current Japanese Top league has got some strict rules on number of foreign players allowed in a match day starting team, think its four. This allows the players that moves between Super rugby and the Top league to sill rest to a large degree and come back to Super rugby largely refreshed.

I wonder if these rules will remain? Otherwise im happy about this news becuase if they can increase their revenues and in turn provide better salaries which will work together with the money offered by Super Rugby instead of against it then it might actually be the sollution to keeping players in SR and maybe even lure some of them back to the SH. This could really be the sollution to Sale Sharks and company pillage of the SH.