Premiership clubs to play against US teams in Anglo-Welsh Cup in next few years as part of global expansion plans

American teams could be playing against English opposition from as early as 2019 as part of Premiership Rugby’s renewed expansion in the United States, with talks already taking place about following the Pro14’s example and welcoming foreign club’s into the current set-up.

Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty revealed to The Independent that he expects the Anglo-Welsh Cup to be revamped in the next few years to include at least one American team, with South African clubs also a possibility following the addition of the Southern Kings and Cheetahs to the Pro 14.

While the Premiership will remain an English-only competition for the foreseeable future, the recent expansion of Welsh, Irish and Scottish rugby to include South African sides – along with Italian sides Benetton Rugby and Zebre – has not gone unnoticed, and the current domestic cup looks an attractive option to alter to bring in American sides.

“We tend to look in the next five years and I could see the prospect of in our development cup competition where currently it’s the English and the Welsh teams,” said McCafferty. “I could see American teams playing in that for instance, which is probably the right sort of level for some of their players at the moment. I could see some of the South African teams playing in that too. So I think in our other competitions there is scope for that, and then once you do that then you’re in business with each other and you see maybe the possibilities of the next 10-15 years.”

He added: “We talk about these things all the time. Often it is just talk but I would think that you’ll see some changes on that in the next couple of years, but obviously people have had priorities elsewhere at the moment.

“I could see those continuing to develop and I think again that’s one of the areas where rugby differentiates itself. If you look at the kind of things that we’re doing and what the Pro12 have done, compared to football or cricket or other sports, it’s pretty innovative stuff and I think that’s a great credit to the game and the people running the game. We’ve got to try and get it right but we’re certainly in expansive mode.”

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The revelation comes as Newcastle Falcons and Saracens prepare to play their third round Premiership fixture in Philadelphia this Saturday, two years after the English game first graced American soil. The inaugural game to take place in the US, featuring Saracens and London Irish, took place in New York and was due to be the first of three annual matches for the Exiles to take to the Big Apple, only for their relegation in 2016 to scupper those plans.

This time around, Premiership Rugby have protected their future plans in the US by opening the door for multiple teams to cross the Atlantic, and while that may not be to the liking of clubs who can attract regular sell-out crowds all season round, at least half of the Premiership clubs have registered interest in being a part of future matches.

“There is certainly half of the league that have expressed their own interest in the States,” McCafferty confirmed. “A number of them are doing their own stuff in the States with community work and sending coaches out, so there’s a lot more below the surface in the States than just the game. The game is the icing on the cake that just gives it all a bit of definition, but there’s a lot of work going on on the ground.

“Those clubs that are most interested in the US are interested in being part of the game, obviously there’s economics to work out between that and for the foreseeable future – and certainly the next few years – we only see the possibility of one regular season game out there, but that isn’t to say that games outside of the season can’t take place there such as warm-up games and so forth.”

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The plan for McCafferty is to not only grow the Premiership’s appeal stateside, but also help to improve the standard of rugby there and thus increase the competition available worldwide. Rugby union may be a global game, but only 13 nations can boast a professional club game and the Southern Hemisphere finds itself in a complete mess following the fallout from Super Rugby’s reduction to 15 teams.

Boosting the American game will have many advantages. One that has already been explored is the addition of US internationals into the Premiership, such as Saracens’ Chris Wyles and Titi Lamositele, but another is that a bigger platform will give fans on these shores a much stronger understanding of the best talents across the pond. That will come in handy when England face the United States at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, having both been drawn in Pool C, and McCafferty hopes to attract more youngsters into the game in order to strengthen the national side for future tournaments beyond the next global gathering.

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“I think that all helps, it means that more youngsters are drawn into playing the game, it means more feed through the system and come out of the other end able to represent their country,” he added. “The US has just qualified for World Cup 2019 in Japan which is good news, that will help the men’s team. The women’s team is doing pretty well, the sevens is very competitive now, so I think even if you wind the clock back five or six years compared to where USA rugby is now, it’s a big step forwards for them

“If you think about the next five or six years, there’s no reason why it can’t continue to make that progress. We’d like one or two of those players playing in the Premiership and we’ve of course already had some, that would be great as well and that creates a nice partnership between us, and obviously there’s a lot of Americans who live in the UK as well who might be drawn into coming to Premiership matches when one or two of the US players are involved in it. It’s totally mutually beneficial, and with all of that effort not just by Premiership Rugby but by World Rugby as well, hopefully we will increase the level of interest steadily in the States in rugby union on the whole.”