New Zealand Denies World League Has Green Light

New Zealand Rugby CEO Steve Tew has said that no plans have been agreed on for the launch of a new international league of rugby nations.

The New Zealand Herald revealed this week that World Rugby has been negotiating the establishment of a 12-team World League to kick off in 2020.

The 12 nations would be the current Six Nations (England, France, Italy, Scotland, Ireland and Wales) and the current Rugby Championship sides of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina, plus Japan and USA, which would be invited to join the Rugby Championship group.

The plan would apparently leave Fiji, Samoa and Tonga out in the cold.

In a statement, Tew said: “World Rugby have been proactive and bought an idea to the table, we have been refining it over several months and a positive spin off has been some real commercial interest in backing it.“

“Having said that nothing has been decided, we have not agreed to anything at this stage and have always been working to the March World Rugby meetings as the next opportunity to discuss the details.”

“There’s no simple solution to this, but New Zealand Rugby remains committed to working through the proposals with the right people in the room.”