College Basketball’s ‘March Madness’ is one of the biggest annual tournaments in sports. It takes over the USA sporting world for six weeks starting on Friday.
The single-elimination, 64-team tournament has captured America since its first edition in 1939, with over 15 million people attending last year’s Final.
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Between 60 and 100 million ‘brackets’ are filled out every year as fans, from former players to presidents, try to be the first person in history to pick a perfect bracket.
But what if Rugby had its own version?
Every year, rumours of a club competition between Southern Hemisphere and Japanese sides emerge as they look to emulate their European counterparts.
Discussions are at an all-time high about which league is the best in the world, with former Wallaby Nick Phipps’ comments about the European clubs going viral.
With this in mind, Rugby.com.au has stepped well and truly into the hypothetical realm, adopting the March Madness format for a worldwide club competition that would decide who the best club in the world is once and for all.
In practice, this would run in a standalone six week window where the best players would be available, battling in out across Europe, the UK, Japan and the Pacific to settle the score.
14 Top 14 clubs
11 Super Rugby Pacific clubs
10 Premiership clubs
16 URC clubs
12 Japanese Rugby League One clubs
Winner of Major League Rugby champs v Super Rugby Americas champs
In basketball’s March Madness, a 12-member selection committee of athletic directors and commissioners select the 64 (or 68, including the First Four) teams that play.
In this case, the winners and runners-up of the five competitions have been handed priority seeding, with the rest of the bracket filled out taking a club’s total points over the past 12 months and dividing it by the maximum points available from their respective competition.
This puts Toulouse at the top of the rankings after they swept through the Top 14 and European Cup.
For example, Stade Francais hangs onto a three-seed after their excellent 2024, while the Crusaders’ struggles in 2024 leave them criminally underrated as a 14-seed.
Newly promoted teams are forced to battle their through as a 16-seed.
It’s far from an exact science but nothing is, as the discussion around this year’s March Madness has proven with North Carolina.
Each section of the draw has 16 seeded teams, with the top four sides each given one seed for their respective quarters.
The winners of these quarters face off in the final four to determine the winner.
SECTION ONE: Euro Quarter
Toulouse is the top-ranked side overall as the European Champions, and for that, they will face the winner of defending MLR champs New England FreeJacks and Dogos XV in the play-in game.
As mentioned, the Crusaders’ tough 2024 season has them as a dangerous 13 seed and will back their chances to make a run after a first round match with Sale.
English powerhouse Bath is the second seed in this section and faces a resurgent Waratahs following their last-place finish in Super Rugby last year.
URC surprise packets Ospreys take on French club Perpignan as Brodie Retallick’s Love Steelers face Irish club Connacht.
SECTION TWO: UK Quarter
Glasgow headline this section after their URC success in 2024, facing Premiership struggles Newcastle.
The Hurricanes will be motivated to prove themselves as a surprise fourth seed against the DynaBoars.
Along with this, the Western Force face a brutal test against Munster, out to cause an upset
The Highlanders are handed a great draw against Stade Francais, who are struggling in 2025 following their second-place finish last year.
SECTION THREE: Pacific Quarter
Section three has a real Pacific feel to it, with a host of big names from Super Rugby.
The Blues are the top seed after taking out the title last year, but are drawn for a potential blockbuster second round match with Toulon and third round clash against Leinster.
There’s a chance for a Reds-Brumbies second round, where they will face the Sharks and Bayonne, respectively.
The Saitama Wild Knights are the second seed after going near perfect in Rugby League One before a shock defeat in the Final.
SECTION FOUR: Japan Quarter
Richie Mo’unga’s Brave Lupus faces the difficult task of being the top seed as the defending Japanese champions.
They would play the winner of La Rochelle and Leinster in a clash of two of the powerhouse programs in World Rugby.
South Africa powerhouse Bulls are the second seed, facing Welsh improvers Dragons first up.
Big improvers Bordeaux will cause some damage as a six seed, drawn against Ardie Savea’s Moana Pasifika.
