Rugby Premier League

Current season, competition or edition: 2025 Rugby Premier League
Sport	Rugby sevens
Founded	2024; 1 year ago (2024)
First season	2025
Administrator	Rugby India GMR Sports
No. of teams	6
Country	India
Headquarters	Mumbai,Maharashtra
Most recent champion	Chennai Bulls (2025)
Broadcasters	India: Star Sports JioHotstar Others: RugbyPass TV
Tournament format	Double round-robin Knock-out
Official website	RPL

Rugby Premier League, also known asRPL, is a professionalrugby sevens league based in India.^[1] It is organized byRugby India, the governing body for the sport in the nation.^[2] It is the first franchise-based sevens rugby league in the world.^[3] It was founded in 2024 to boost the growth and popularity of rugby sevens. It debuted in 2025 with 6 city-based teams.^[4]

Rugby Premier League was first announced in early 2024 as a league with six teams and a mix of Indian as well as overseas players.^[5] Baseline Ventures, who has worked withPro Volleyball League, was supposed to be the partner for the league. In December,Rugby India announced a 10-year partnership withGMR Sports to launch the league in 2025.^[6]

In April 2025, the six teams were announced:Bengaluru Bravehearts,Chennai Bulls,Delhi Redz,Hyderabad Heroes,Kalinga Black Tigers andMumbai Dreamers. The dates and venue were unveiled with the league being held from 1 June to 15 June at theMumbai Football Arena.World Rugby granted RPL a 15-day window, ensuring no rugby sevens tournaments took place during this period.^[7] This allowed the participation of some of the biggest names in the sport.^[8]

A lineup of 30 marquee international players from rugby powerhouse nations were bought during the auction. The broadcasting and streaming rights were sold toStar Sports andJioHotstar. Renowned coachesMike Friday,Ben Gollings,DJ Forbes,Tomasi Cama,Francisco Hernández, andTim Walsh were roped in for the league.^[9]

From the domestic circuit, 30 Indian players were selected from an auction pool of 71.^[10] The2025 season will debut with the men's league and the 2026 season is expected to feature both men's and women's league.^[11]Dream11 CMO Vikrant Mudaliar revealed that the platform, which has 240 million users, will launch a rugby fantasy sports category to coincide with the rugby league.^[12]

Rahul Bose, the president ofRugby India, revealed the league brings massive changes in infrastructure and scouting with it. The six owners send scouts across the country, find the best players and bring them back to the cities. They take care of infrastructure, from grounds to physical therapists to masseurs and nutrition coaches.^[13] The league has the best players in the world, best broadcasters plusWorld Rugby match referees, medical commissioners, commentators and match commissioners.^[14] Thefirst edition was held from 15 to 29 June 2025 at theMumbai Football Arena,Maharashtra, India.^[15]

The teams compete against each other during a 34-match schedule over 15 days.^[16]

• Rugby Premier League will feature two matches per night on weekdays and three matches per night on weekends.
• Matches will be four minutes per quarter with two minutes break between each quarter, or 22 minutes per match, leading to a unique style of play as it differs from world rugby 7s format.
• A double round-robin format will see 30 pool games played, with each team playing 10 pool matches. There will be two semi-finals, a bronze medal match and a final for a total of 34 matches.
• Teams will play a maximum of 10 pool games and two playoff matches over the 15 days of competition.^[17]

Each RPL franchise will consist of a 13 player squad with the main attraction being 5 active and former international marquee players fromtier-one nations, 3bridge players and 5 local Indian players.^[17][18]

• 5 international marquee rugby 7s players: Meant to be active players from theWorld Rugby Sevens ecosystem.
• 3 international bridge players: FromHong Kong,Germany andKenya^[19]
• 5 Indian players: Meant to be India’s best rugby 7s players.
• Management team: Head Coach, Indian Assistant Coach, Physiotherapist, Massage Therapist and Team Manager.

Delhi Redz

Mumbai Dreamers

Hyderabad Heroes

Kalinga Black Tigers

Chennai Bulls

Bengaluru Bravehearts

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Locations of the Rugby Premier League teams

Colors	Team	City	Coach	Captain(s)
	Bengaluru Bravehearts	Bengaluru,Karnataka	Francisco Hernández	Scott Curry Pol Pla
	Chennai Bulls	Chennai,Tamil Nadu	Ben Gollings	Alex Davis
	Delhi Redz	New Delhi,Delhi	Tomasi Cama	Matías Osadczuk
	Hyderabad Heroes	Hyderabad,Telangana	DJ Forbes	Manu Moreno
	Kalinga Black Tigers	Bhubaneswar,Odisha	Mike Friday	Harry McNulty
	Mumbai Dreamers	Mumbai,Maharashtra	Tim Walsh	Akash Balmiki

India:

• JioHotstar
• Star Sports

Others:

• RugbyPass TV

• All India & South Asia Rugby Tournament
• Rugby union in India
• Sport in India

• rugbypremierleague.in
• Rugby Premier League onFacebook
• Rugby Premier League onInstagram
• Rugby Premier League onTwitter
• Rugby Premier League onYouTube

• Rugby Premier League
• Rugby sevens competitions in India
• Rugby sevens competitions in Asia
• Professional sports leagues in India
• GMR Group

• CS1 errors: generic name
• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from October 2024
• Use Indian English from October 2024
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Rugby union articles needing expert attention
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