The national rugby unions of eight of the sport’s major nations released a statement on Tuesday warning players and support staff against joining the rebel R360 competition.

The R360 competition has backing from private investors and former England centre and 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Mike Tindall is the public face of the project, which is shrouded in secrecy.

Few details are known about the plans, but reports have emerged it would involve six to eight men’s teams and four women’s teams, and would hope to attract the best players from all over the world to play for the competition’s franchises.

But there are concerns about where the competition would fit into an already congested calendar.

In response, the national rugby unions of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Engla

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