R360: World Team 12 boss talks about chances of launching new rugby event

Samarasinh hoped the World 12 team would be the equivalent of rugby. She was the CEO of the proposed event, the newest rebel in the game before R360.

Aiming to launch in August 2022, the World 12s will hold an annual three-week 12-player event, featuring the sport’s biggest names, in a major global city.

Ultimately, despite high-profile ambassadors such as former All Blacks captain Kieran Read and Springbok legend Schalk Burger, and promises that stars could earn upwards of £250,000 for less than a month’s work, it failed to take off.

Samarasinhe says the concepts will continue to emerge unless rugby, like the BCCI, seizes the same opportunity.

“I still believe what we were doing was right,” she says.

“World rugby will continue to take a beating – if it’s not R360, if it’s not World 12, it will be something else.

“In fact, they need to innovate the sport. My view to the rugby authorities is why don’t we do something from within, rather than waiting for someone to come from outside?”

Despite leading unions and the NRL rugby league insisting on exiling recruits from their teams, R360 organizers are confident they can still fill squads for the October 2026 start date.

Samarasinhi has witnessed excitement among players about the potentially bumper payday.

“I would say 99% of the players I talked to were really excited about it,” she says of her experience with the World 12 Championships.

“They asked me what they could do to help make this happen.

“I think a big part of that was, quite transparently, money, because we know rugby players don’t earn enough money throughout their career, but there was also the opportunity to play a new format alongside the players they only normally play against.”