Rugby Premier League, also known as RPL, is a professional

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

league based in India. It is organized by Rugby India, the governing body for the sport in the nation. It is the first franchise-based sevens rugby league in the world. It was founded in 2024 to boost the growth and popularity of rugby sevens. It debuted in 2025 with 6 city-based teams.

History

Rugby Premier League was first announced in early 2024 as a league with six teams and a mix of Indian as well as overseas players. Baseline Ventures, who has worked with

Pro Volleyball League Pro Volleyball League (PVL) was a professional men's indoor volleyball league in India. The inaugural season took place in February 2019. The league was an initiative between the Volleyball Federation of India, Head Digital Works Pvt. Ltd. anB ...

, was supposed to be the partner for the league. In December, Rugby India announced a 10-year partnership with GMR Sports to launch the league in 2025. In April 2025, the six teams were announced: Bengaluru Bravehearts, Chennai Bulls, Delhi Redz,

Hyderabad Heroes Hyderabad Heroes is a professional rugby sevens franchise team. Based in Hyderabad, Telangana, it competes in the Rugby Premier League. Manu Moreno is the captain while DJ Forbes is the coach. Owners The team is owned by KLO Sports, which also ...

, Kalinga Black Tigers and Mumbai Dreamers. The dates and venue were unveiled with the league being held from 1 June to 15 June at the

Mumbai Football Arena Mumbai Football Arena is a association football, football stadium in Mumbai, India. It is located in the Andheri Sports Complex. It is one of the few football-only built stadiums in the country. Routine usage It has served as the home stadium ...

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

granted RPL a 15-day window, ensuring no rugby sevens tournaments took place during this period. This allowed the participation of some of the biggest names in the sport. A lineup of 30 marquee international players from rugby powerhouse nations were bought during the auction. The broadcasting and streaming rights were sold to Star Sports and

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. Renowned coaches Mike Friday, Ben Gollings,

DJ Forbes Derek Jamie "DJ" Forbes (born 15 December 1982) is a New Zealand former rugby union player and captain of the All Blacks Sevens team. Forbes is part Samoan, and also played rugby fifteens as a loose forward for Counties Manukau. Forbes was b ...

Tomasi Cama Tomasi Camaneisenirosi is a Fijian former rugby union footballer. He played for Nabua Rugby Club in Fiji and won 14 caps playing for making his test debut 10 August 1985 against at Ballymore, Brisbane scoring a try. He played four tests in th ...

, Francisco Hernández, and Tim Walsh were roped in for the league. From the domestic circuit, 30 Indian players were selected from an auction pool of 71. The 2025 season will debut with the men's league and the 2026 season is expected to feature both men's and women's league.

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CMO Vikrant Mudaliar revealed that the platform, which has 240 million users, will launch a rugby fantasy sports category to coincide with the rugby league.

Organisation

Rahul Bose Rahul Bose (born 27 July 1967) is an Indian actor and athlete who works in Hindi films. Bose is the president of Rugby India. He has appeared in Bengali films such as '' Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'', '' Kalpurush'', '' Anuranan'', '' Antaheen'', ''L ...

, the president of Rugby India, revealed the league brings massive changes in infrastructure and scouting with it. The six owners send scouts across the country, find the best players and bring them back to the cities. They take care of infrastructure, from grounds to physical therapists to masseurs and nutrition coaches. The league has the best players in the world, best broadcasters plus

match referees, medical commissioners, commentators and match commissioners. The

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

was held from 15 to 29 June 2025 at the

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, India.

Format

The teams compete against each other during a 34-match schedule over 15 days. * Rugby Premier League will feature two matches per night on weekdays and three matches per night on weekends. * Matches will be four minutes per quarter with two minutes break between each quarter, or 22 minutes per match, leading to a unique style of play as it differs from world rugby 7s format. * A double round-robin format will see 30 pool games played, with each team playing 10 pool matches. There will be two semi-finals, a bronze medal match and a final for a total of 34 matches. * Teams will play a maximum of 10 pool games and two playoff matches over the 15 days of competition.

Auction and draft

Each RPL franchise will consist of a 13 player squad with the main attraction being 5 active and former international marquee players from tier-one nations, 3

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players and 5 local Indian players. * 5 international marquee rugby 7s players: Meant to be active players from the World Rugby Sevens ecosystem. * 3 international bridge players: From

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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and

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. * 5 Indian players: Meant to be India’s best rugby 7s players. * Management team: Head Coach, Indian Assistant Coach, Physiotherapist, Massage Therapist and Team Manager.

Teams

Editions and results

Performance by teams

By season

League positions

Broadcasting

India: *

* Star Sports Online: * RugbyPass TV

Sponsorship

References

External links

rugbypremierleague.in

Rugby Premier League
on

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{{Authority control Rugby Premier League Rugby sevens competitions in India Rugby sevens competitions in Asia Professional sports leagues in India Rugby union articles needing expert attention Rugby articles needing expert attention

History

Organisation

Format

Auction and draft

Teams

Editions and results

Performance by teams

By season

League positions

Broadcasting

Sponsorship

See also

References

External links