England head coach Eddie Jones emerges as main target for ambitious World 12s competition

The organisers of a proposed new world 12-a-side tournament want to recruit England head coach Eddie Jones and have insisted they have the finances in place to make the project become a reality.

The World 12s concept was launched last week as a £250 million equivalent to cricket’s IPL, with the proposal for the top international players to be recruited via a franchise system to play in 30-minute matches over three consecutive weekends next August and September.

Ian Ritchie, the former Rugby Football Union chief executive who also went on to become chairman of Premiership Rugby, has brought credibility to the proposal as chairman and has begun exploratory talks with the key stakeholders in the northern hemisphere.

Ritchie, whose former New Zealand RU counterpart Steve Tew is leading negotiations in the southern hemisphere, said the plan to recruit the world’s best talent included coaches as well as players.

The project came to life when Jones’ agent Craig Livingstone approached Ritchie after Jones had used the concept of 12-a-side in his training sessions when he was head coach of Japan and also with England.

Ritchie said the ambition would be to attract Jones and other international head coaches such as Ireland’s Andy Farrell and insisted that it would be beneficial for both players and head coaches to be involved.

“Eddie has nothing to do with the operations side of it but as a rugby concept he has used it and been engaged with it,” Ritchie told Telegraph Sport.

“He has obviously got a full-time job to say the least and we would need to discuss that with Bill (Sweeney, the current RFU CEO).

“If I was still chief executive, I think I would say two things – how much time is it and how much does it detract if at all from the day job?

“But I don't know any of the top coaches who don’t work unbelievably hard. And just as we think the best players in the world will benefit from playing alongside each other, it is the same with the coaches.

“I know there was some negative stuff about Eddie working with Beauden Barrett in Japan. But Beauden was quoted as saying what a great coach Eddie was.

“So who learns about whom - Eddie about Beauden or Beauden about Eddie? And where was that balance of advantage? Most great coaches, and across different sports, are actually very happy to share things. I think most people recognise that is a good thing to do and I think this enhances the possibility."

Ritchie said he hoped to talk to both the RFU and Premiership club owners to present the business plan and address key issues including player welfare, and that the organisers had engaged performance consultants to analyse the impact on workload.

He insisted that as the financial payments to the players would also fall outside the Premiership’s salary cap, it could be a key incentive for the top internationals to remain with their clubs in England and had the potential to bring new audiences to rugby, in a similar way to The Hundred in cricket.

“I believe that we can put an economic model in front of them that makes sense for player release,” Ritchie added. “It's not diluting their commerciality.

“My opinion is that this is complimentary, it is additive. For example a load of 15 year-olds who have never watched rugby very much before and then they say ‘I’d really like to watch a Six Nations game or go to a game in the autumn, that would be brilliant.

“Anybody who runs a business - and sport is a business now - has to embrace innovation, you've got to look at doing something different. If you look at The Hundred in cricket, it's attracted a whole new load of people who have never even watched the cricket game before. And I think this has the possibility of that. And I don't think it's going to stop people going to Harlequins or to Bath, nor would we want it to.”

To get the concept off the ground, agreement would have to be reached by January. Ritchie knows more than most how difficult it is to affect change to the global calendar but insists it is worth a shot.

“I think the interesting thing to me, having done loads of informal conversations, is the number of people who said that they think it is a great idea but ask how are we going to make it happen? Ritchie added.

“My view is that if it is a great idea, and you think it is beneficial, let’s try and see if we can make it happen.”

Matt Giteau, the former Wallaby back, has recently been appointed as an ambassador for the proposal as well as former Springbok Schalk Burger.

“I think we've got some undoubtedly legends of the game who think this is a decent idea” Ritchie added. “I think more of the players when they think about it would hopefully think it's a good idea and I hope the clubs will as well.

“I have watched the Lions documentaries and seen Sir Ian McGeechan say to the players this is something they will never forget for the rest of their lives. Well, what we are proposing is sort of a super Lions – if you get the best 192 best players in the world and mix them up.”