The two rugby superpowers hope to capitalise on the growth of rugby in Asia which they hope will be spurred by the hosting of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
“We have a decade ahead of us in which we’ll see rugby grow in Asia and the hub of that growth will be Japan,” said New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully, as reported by Bloomberg. “New Zealand has a proud rugby heritage, Japan has substantial resources and we see it as an area of natural synergy.”
Bloomberg reports that John O’Neill, chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), has said: “Looking at the strength of the England and French markets, if we sit on our hands we’re going to get run over by the economic power of Europe.”
Some of the top players from Australia and New Zealand have been attracted by the bigger salaries on offer at English and French clubs. This has resulted in crowds at domestic matches growing smaller. ARU research shows that the total attendance at international test matches fell 37 per cent to 386,287 this year, and attendances in Australia at matches in the provincial Super 14 competition fell to 75,393 on average per round, compared to 115,317 in 2006.
