Rugby Union

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has confirmed that the 2016 edition of its Currie Cup domestic competition will be expanded to include the Namibian national team.

World Rugby has announced that Monaco and Dublin will host the final rugby sevens qualification tournaments for the sport’s Olympic Games debut in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Sophie Goldschmidt is to step down as chief commercial and marketing officer at the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in order to take up the role of group managing director at the CSM Sport & Entertainment division of marketing services group Chime Communications.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has announced it was able to generate record revenue of £207.9m (€295.6m/$312.7m) during its 2014-15 financial year.

Incoming Sanzar chief executive Andy Marinos has said the umbrella body for the Argentinian, Australian, New Zealand and South African rugby unions is considering expansion in all areas of the world, including Europe, while stakeholders behind embattled Super Rugby expansion franchises in Japan and South Africa have said the teams will compete as scheduled next season.

Sanzar, the umbrella body for the Argentinian, Australian, New Zealand and South African rugby unions, has appointed Andy Marinos as its new chief executive.

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has moved to seize control of Super Rugby franchise the Southern Kings in a bid to assist the Eastern Province Rugby Union, which is enduring financial difficulties.

World Rugby, the global governing body of rugby union, is to make a number of changes to its governance structures in an effort to improve the representation of unions around the world and provide an independent skills-based voice for its decision-making bodies.

The USA Rugby and World Rugby governing bodies have sanctioned an initiative that will result in the launch of the first-ever professional rugby union league in the United States.

New Zealand Super Rugby franchise the Waikato Chiefs will continue the rugby union competition’s overseas expansion by taking a regular season game to Fiji in July.

Organisers of the 2015 Rugby World Cup will return an £80m (€111m/$123m) surplus to World Rugby, the global governing body of rugby union, it has been announced.

The president of Rugby Europe, the continent’s governing body for rugby union, has called on the Six Nations national team tournament to consider re-structuring its format to include emerging nations such as Georgia and Romania.

London Irish is set to break new ground for the Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England, by taking a home game to New York on March 12.

Premiership Rugby, the governing body of the top division of club rugby union in England, has rejected reports that clubs in the competition are breaking salary cap regulations, despite confirming it had pursued “certain issues” with some teams over the wage limit in the 2014-15 season.

World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper has hailed the commercial success of the 2015 World Cup, stating that the ongoing national team tournament has benefited from having its core business partners and sponsors locked down a year in advance.

The Rugby Football Union will consider staging further England international games in Manchester following the success of Saturday’s World Cup game against Uruguay, according to Stephen Brown, England 2015 managing director and chief financial officer for the RFU.