World Champions Cup for club sides put back until 2029 at earliest, but Crusaders boss Colin Mansbridge says ‘it’s still alive’
Friday, 19 June 2026
Congested rugby calendar means proposed 2028 start date is now off the table.
Crusaders air frustration that Super Rugby lacks power to do deals without NZR backing.
Competition already sponsor interest and clubs have not given up hope.
The much-anticipated competition between the best club sides in the world won’t happen until 2029 at the earliest, The Post can reveal.
The competition, which has the working title of the World Champions Cup, was originally scheduled to begin in 2028, but Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge told The Post that parties were now working towards a 2029 start date.
“It is definitely not dead,” Mansbridge said. “It definitely got challenged in 2028 because there was also rest periods [for test players] coming off a delayed Rugby World Cup in 2027.
“It [the Rugby World Cup] had been pushed back to accommodate the Australians’ calendar, which meant that the risk was later for the players coming back.
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“It made 2028 quite challenging. But’s definitely alive [for 2029] and I know [NZ Rugby chief executive] Steve Lancaster and [Rugby Australia chief executive] Phil Waugh are in Europe now and I know they're turning up optimistically speaking about their support for the World Champions Cup.”
Mansbridge has been one of the architects and champions of the World Champions Cup, spending “a countless number of hours in the middle of the night” on calls to European club rugby bosses, the latest of which happened this week.
He says that European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), the entity that organises the Champions Cup competition in Europe, also remains “optimistic” that the World Champions Cup can eventually get off the ground.
Whether that happens remains to be seen, as 2029 will be a British and Irish Lions year - which puts additional demands on players.
Mansbridge said finding a four-week window for the 16-team World Champions Cup that suited all parties was complex, and the competition needed to be finished by the third weekend in June to accommodate the start of the July test windows.
“Our last four weeks [in Super Rugby] now actually do line up with the United Rugby Championship and with the Prem, but they don't line up with Top 14, which goes in a week later,” he said.
“So, then you get into the club versus national union debate up there and how much is, you know, who would make compromises, how much would they be prepared to make?”
But there is little doubt the competition would spark significant interest with the format pitting the top seven teams from Super Rugby Pacific against European and South African heavyweights such as Bordeaux-Begles, Toulouse, Leinster and the Bulls.
Mansbridge said commercial support was already “locked in”.
“The format is still the same,” he said. “It's all been agreed. It's been agreed in principle…it’s just that there isn’t a binding agreement in place yet.
“There is sponsor appetite because I've actually been speaking to sponsors directly.
“I know there is sponsor appetite and and it is locked in.”
If the scheduling obstacles for a World Champions Cup prove insurmountable, Mansbridge said there would be “appetite” for games against the best Japan Rugby League One (JRLO) sides in some format.
But he said the “more fundamental question” was that the Super Rugby Pacific clubs needed to be able to run their own race, rather than being at the mercy of NZ Rugby and Rugby Australia (RA).
“Let's say there's a 20-week window for Super Rugby Pacific, who owns the window?” Mansbridge said.
“If that's owned by a club entity and there was less national union veto rights, then suddenly JRLO is negotiating with Super Rugby Pacific, not with NZR and RA and that's the issue.
“Even with Super Round, we were the counterparty in that. If it wasn't for the Crusaders, Super Round wouldn't have happened.”