I've always thought a Japanese franchise would have been worth looking at. It might have to be propped up with imports to make it competitive on the field, but club rugby in Japan is pretty big. I CBA to check, but if memory serves in terms of registered players only England, France, SA & NZ have more.
It is but it's also company rugby, from what I can gather most if not all the local players work for the corporations which sponsor/run the clubs and any single franchise as the Japanese coach, John Kirwan said would marginalise the corporations backing for the domestic game.
"Peters said that SANZAR executive committee involving all three countries had agreed to declare the Hurricanes v Crusaders match a draw and the competition points would be shared evenly between the two franchises (two points each), as consistent with similar situations in other international tournaments."
That's bull****. There's plenty of other grounds in Crusaders territory. Cantabrians should get the chance to see their team - Nelson and Blenheim have decent enough stadiums. Play there, FFS.
That was exactly what I was thinking - could even allow Invercargill or Manawatu to host a few matches if the Tasman region couldn't host the full allocation of Crusaders home games.
