Finn Russell and Antoine Dupont targeted as players offered double-your-money to join breakaway league

Exclusive: Several leading England players are also known to be on the USA-backed competition’s wish list

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Finn Russell and Antoine Dupont feature on a global franchise league wish list under ambitious plans to target the world’s best players on double-your-money deals and kick-start a new era of rugby.
A source informed Telegraph Sport that Scotland fly-half Russell has been approached to be the headline attraction from the Gallagher Premiership to join the project. It is also thought Dupont, the France scrum-half, will be a major target for the USA-backed competition, with the 28-year-old said to personify “the best of the best”. Bringing in Dupont, a source indicated, would underline the ambition of the competition.
Several leading England players are known to be on the league’s wish list, as well as internationals from France, South Africa and New Zealand. It is understood that Ireland’s leading players have not yet been approached, but figure prominently on the shortlist.
Around 320 players will need to be mobilised to service eight men’s franchises. Insiders hope that assembling 280 top internationals from a shortlist of over 300 would represent a tipping point that could persuade World Rugby to sanction the league.
“The idea is to take the festivals where the money is, such as Las Vegas, Chicago, Dubai and Singapore,” said one source.
There is also a desire for the franchises, which would be linked to cities or regions, to be spread evenly across the main rugby countries.
While any negotiations are at an early stage, and above the players’ heads in many cases, most stakeholders are thought to be united in the view the league would only be viable if involvement in it does not jeopardise players’ Test prospects. Clearly, that would require the league to take place around the current Test windows in July, November and between February and March.
Top players considering a move to join the breakaway could face an uphill battle, however. RFU insiders are said to be relaxed about news of the developments and having just signed a binding £264 million, eight-year Professional Game Partnership deal with Premiership Rugby, the union will not allow players who are not based in England to play for the national team, which will force those who sign up to the breakaway deal to choose between club and country.
Heads of agreement documents, thought to have been signed by some players already, are believed to feature a promise to at least double salaries for appearing in the new league, if and when the competition gets off the ground.
While World Rugby would not comment publicly on the reports, Telegraph Sport understands the governing body has been aware of the developments for some time. Its focus for now is on fixing the rising costs in the sport, including wage inflation, as outlined by new chair Brett Robinson following his election on Thursday.
The news of a breakaway league broke hours after Robinson addressed the media, having stressed before voting took place in Dublin “that the financial sustainability of our member unions is at crisis point”.
Robinson later added: “We’ve done some great work in the past few months bringing our top unions together. There are revenue and cost levers we can play with. We did a workshop four weeks ago, and last night the CEOs and chairs of the major unions came together as a follow-on from that. We’re into some detail about those things now.”
The new World Rugby chair also previously stressed the need to address player salaries across the game while speaking on The Good, Bad and Rugby podcast.
“There is a really massive issue and that’s dealing with the creaking of our unions,” said Robinson. “It’s the cost of our players that is really putting pressure on our cost bases. I think we’ve got to get real serious about that.”
World Rugby is currently investing record sums into each level of the game, with £300 million going direct to unions and regions following last year’s Rugby World Cup in France, while projections for the 2027 men’s tournament in Australia and 2031 men’s World Cup in the United States say they are currently forecast to generate £550 million and £700 million respectively.
A source added that interest from host cities and commercial interests for the 2031 Rugby World Cup has been “exceptional”.
It remains unclear where the franchises will be based and what they will be called, but the Formula One-style roadshow element would extend to the fixture schedule, with matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on any given leg.
The Rugby Players Association, the body representing elite players in England, expressed caution over the significant challenges that come with creating a franchise model in rugby union.
“The idea of an elite global competition has floated around for some time. The success of some franchise format leagues show what can be possible and these can be exciting, but there are significant challenges to make the idea viable for rugby union,” Christian Day, the RPA general secretary and former chairman, told Telegraph Sport.
“The costs associated with employing around 350 top global players are considerable. It would also require significant further investment in order to build the necessary support structures around those players and to facilitate travel on a global scale. These welfare and well-being provisions cannot be overlooked. The contractual challenge will also be significant. Most players in high demand will subsequently be tied into stable contracts.”
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