Samarasinhe hoped that the World 12s would be rugby’s equivalent. She was chief executive of the proposed event, the most recent rebel disrupter to the game before R360.
World 12s aimed to launch in August 2022, staging an annual three-week 12-a-side event, featuring the sport’s biggest names, in a major global city.
Ultimately, despite blue-chip ambassadors such as former All Blacks captain Kieran Read and Springbok legend Schalk Burger, and promises that stars could earn in excess of £250,000 for less than a month’s work, it failed to get off the ground.
Samarasinhe says the concepts will keep coming though unless rugby, like the BCCI, seizes the opportunity itself.
“I still believe in what we were doing was right,” she says.
“World Rugby are going to keep getting hit – if it’s not R360, if it’s not World 12s, it’s going to be something else.
“Actually they need to innovate the sport. My point to rugby’s authorities is why don’t we do something from within, rather than waiting for someone to come from outside?”
Despite leading unions and rugby league’s NRL insisting recruits will be exiled from their teams, R360’s organisers are confident that they can still fill out teams for their October 2026 start date.
Samarasinhe has seen the enthusiasm among players for a potential bumper pay day.
“I would say 99% of the players I spoke to were so excited about it,” she says of her experience with World 12s.
“They were asking me what they could do to help get this off the ground.
“I think a large part of that was, quite transparently, the money, because we know that rugby players do not earn enough money across their careers, but there was also the chance to play a new format alongside players they only ever play against normally.”
