Thursday 26 November 2015 11:07, UK
SANZAR - the three-nation body that runs Super Rugby - has revealed it will consider expanding into Europe over the next few years.
Their first move outside the borders of the three founder nations - Australia, New Zealand and South Africa - came when Argentina was added to the Tri-Nations to create the Rugby Championship in 2012.
Argentina has also now been handed a Super Rugby franchise for next season along with a team from Japan - SANZAR's first move into the northern hemisphere.
New SANZAR chief executive Andy Marinos said one of his first duties would be to draw up a strategy for "further growth and expansion".
"I think you've got to have a pretty open piece of paper," he said. "You've got to look at all the markets where there are opportunities."
One part of the world closer to SANZAR's traditional base are the Pacific Island nations of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa - and Marinos believes they will also play a part in their future.
"The Pacific Islands are very much in our thinking," he added. "The over-arching consideration on any future expansion in my view is that we have to proper geographic locations that are also commercially attractive.
"The participation and inclusion of Pacific Islander players is really important, how we do that the next step and is going to need a fair bit of thought about it."
