2025 Rugby Premier League

2025 Rugby Premier League
2025 Rugby Premier League
Countries	India
Number of teams	6
Date	15 June – 29 June 2025
Champions	Chennai Bulls; (1st title)
Runners-up	Delhi Redz
Matches played	34
Tries scored	206 ; (average 6.1 per match)
Top point scorer	Va'a Apelu Maliko
Top try scorer	Va'a Apelu Maliko
Official website
	www.rugbypremierleague.in
	2026 →

The 2025 Rugby Premier League was the first season of the Rugby Premier League.^[1] It was held from 15 to 29 June 2025 with 6 city-based teams.^[2] Chennai Bulls defeated Delhi Redz 41–0 to win the inaugural title.^[3]

History

In April 2025, the six teams were announced: Bengaluru Bravehearts, Chennai Bulls, Delhi Redz, Hyderabad Heroes, Kalinga Black Tigers and Mumbai Dreamers. World Rugby granted RPL a 15-day window, ensuring no other rugby sevens tournaments took place during this period. This allowed participation of some of the biggest names in the sport.^[4]

A lineup of 30 marquee international players from rugby powerhouse nations were bought during the auction. The broadcasting and streaming rights were sold to Star Sports and JioHotstar. Renowned coaches Mike Friday, Ben Gollings, DJ Forbes, Tomasi Cama, Francisco Hernández, and Tim Walsh were roped in for the league.^[5]

From the domestic circuit, 30 Indian players were selected from an auction pool of 71.^[6] Mohit Khatri, captain of the national rugby 7s team went for ₹4.5 lakh.^[7] Dream11 chief marketing officer Vikrant Mudaliar revealed that the platform, which has 240 million users, will launch a rugby fantasy sports category to coincide with the RPL.^[8]

Format and venue

Format

The teams competed against each other during a 34-match schedule over 15 days.

Rugby Premier League featured 2 matches per night on weekdays and 3 matches per night on weekends.
Matches were 4 minutes a quarter + 2 minutes break between each quarter which meant 22 minutes per match.
A round-robin format saw 30 pool games with each team playing 10 pool matches. There were two semi-finals, a bronze medal match and the finale for a total of 34 matches.
Teams played a maximum of 10 pool games + 2 playoff matches over 15 days.^[9]

Venue

The matches were held at the Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai, Maharashtra.^[10]

Mumbai
Mumbai Football Arena
Capacity: 7,000

Teams

Club	City	Head Coach	Captain
Bengaluru Bravehearts	Bengaluru	Francisco Hernández	Scott Curry Pol Pla
Chennai Bulls	Chennai	Ben Gollings	Alex Davis
Delhi Redz	Delhi	Tomasi Cama	Matías Osadczuk
Hyderabad Heroes	Hyderabad	DJ Forbes	Manu Moreno
Kalinga Black Tigers	Bhubaneswar	Mike Friday	Harry McNulty
Mumbai Dreamers	Mumbai	Tim Walsh	Akash Balmiki

Squads

Experienced marquee rugby players were picked up at the draft.^[11] The bridge and Indian players were bought at the auction.^[12]

Bengaluru Bravehearts	Chennai Bulls	Delhi Redz	Hyderabad Heroes	Kalinga Black Tigers	Mumbai Dreamers
Akuila Rokolisoa Iowane Teba Tone Ng Shiu Scott Curry (C) Pol Pla (C) Philip Wokorach Liam Poulton Mak Chung Mohit Khatri Suresh Kumar Karan Rajbhar Prashant Singh Arpan Chhetri	Terry Kennedy Joseva Talacolo Joaquín Pellandini Filipe Sauturaga Alex Davis (C) Nikias Lohe Haakon Oess Va'a Apelu Maliko Akhil Anand Shanawaz Ahmed Aryan Dixit Muhammed Jasim Vallabh Patil	Matteo Graziano Patrick Odongo Jordan Conroy Matías Osadczuk (C) Alejandro Laforga Robin Plumpe Michael Coverdale Moritz Noll Rajdeep Saha Deepak Punia Mohit Tushir Sunil Chawan Raj Kumar	Kevin Wekesa Joji Nasova Terio Tamani Lautaro Bazán Manu Moreno (C) Motu Opetai Max Roddick Wolfram Hacker Prince Khatri Sumit Roy Javed Hussain Sukumar Hembrom Sambit Pradhan	Rosko Specman Lucas Lacamp Perry Baker Harry McNulty (C) Maurice Longbottom Kyle Tremblay Ethan Turner James Thiel Ajay Deswal Asis Sabar Deepraj Rajabhosale Pardeep Singh Arjun Mahato	Waisea Nacuqu Henry Hutchison Aaron Cummings Jerry Tuwai James Turner Elias Hancock Rhys James Briar Barron Neeraj Khatri Devendra Padir Akash Balmiki (C) Nayan Kumar Ganesh Majhi

Points table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Qualification
1	Hyderabad Heroes	10	9	0	1	36	Advance to playoffs
2	Chennai Bulls (C)	10	6	1	3	25
3	Bengaluru Bravehearts	10	5	1	4	21
4	Delhi Redz	10	3	2	5	14
5	Kalinga Black Tigers	10	2	2	6	10
6	Mumbai Dreamers	10	1	2	7	6

First match(es) will be played: 1 June 2025. Source: Rugby Premier League
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled.
(C) Champion

League stage

15 June 2025
19:45

Bengaluru Bravehearts	21–21	Delhi Redz
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

15 June 2025
20:25

Chennai Bulls	24–5	Mumbai Dreamers
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka

15 June 2025
21:05

Hyderabad Heroes	24–14	Kalinga Black Tigers
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

16 June 2025
19:45

Kalinga Black Tigers	10–35	Bengaluru Bravehearts
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka

16 June 2025
20:25

Mumbai Dreamers	17–31	Chennai Bulls
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

17 June 2025
19:45

Delhi Redz	7–21	Chennai Bulls
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

17 June 2025
20:25

Hyderabad Heroes	43–7	Bengaluru Bravehearts
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka

18 June 2025
19:45

Chennai Bulls	26–26	Kalinga Black Tigers
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

18 June 2025
20:25

Mumbai Dreamers	7–20	Delhi Redz
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

19 June 2025
19:45

Bengaluru Bravehearts	12–7	Mumbai Dreamers
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

19 June 2025
20:25

Kalinga Black Tigers	12–43	Hyderabad Heroes
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka

20 June 2025
19:45

Bengaluru Bravehearts	26–0	Chennai Bulls
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka

20 June 2025
20:25

Kalinga Black Tigers	7–14	Delhi Redz
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

20 June 2025
21:05

Mumbai Dreamers	12–19	Hyderabad Heroes
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

21 June 2025
19:45

Chennai Bulls	31–24	Bengaluru Bravehearts
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

21 June 2025
20:25

Hyderabad Heroes	24–17	Mumbai Dreamers
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka

21 June 2025
21:05

Delhi Redz	15–19	Kalinga Black Tigers
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

22 June 2025
19:45

Bengaluru Bravehearts	26–21	Hyderabad Heroes
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka

22 June 2025
20:25

Chennai Bulls	24–7	Delhi Redz
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

22 June 2025
21:05

Kalinga Black Tigers	17–17	Mumbai Dreamers
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

23 June 2025
19:45

Delhi Redz	22–12	Bengaluru Bravehearts
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

23 June 2025
20:25

Hyderabad Heroes	28–7	Chennai Bulls
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

24 June 2025
19:45

Mumbai Dreamers	5–33	Kalinga Black Tigers
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka

24 June 2025
20:25

Chennai Bulls	0–17	Hyderabad Heroes
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

25 June 2025
19:45

Bengaluru Bravehearts	34–26	Kalinga Black Tigers
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka

25 June 2025
20:25

Delhi Redz	19–19	Mumbai Dreamers
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

26 June 2025
19:45

Kalinga Black Tigers	21–40	Chennai Bulls
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

26 June 2025
20:25

Hyderabad Heroes	40–19	Delhi Redz
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

27 June 2025
19:45

Delhi Redz	7–31	Hyderabad Heroes
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

27 June 2025
20:25

Mumbai Dreamers	26–14	Bengaluru Bravehearts
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

Playoffs

Semi-finals		Final

28 June – Mumbai Football Arena

Chennai Bulls	31
		29 June – Mumbai Football Arena
Bengaluru Bravehearts	12
		Chennai Bulls	41
28 June – Mumbai Football Arena
		Delhi Redz	0
Hyderabad Heroes	7

Delhi Redz	14
		Third place playoff

		29 June – Mumbai Football Arena

		Bengaluru Bravehearts	17

		Hyderabad Heroes	12

Semi-finals

28 June 2025
19:30

Chennai Bulls	31–12	Bengaluru Bravehearts
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

28 June 2025
20:00

Hyderabad Heroes	7–14	Delhi Redz
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka

Third place playoff

29 June 2025
19:30

Bengaluru Bravehearts	12–17	Hyderabad Heroes
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Tetsuya Hirakawa

Final

29 June 2025
20:00

Chennai Bulls	41–0	Delhi Redz
	Report

Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai
Referee: Craig Chan

Statistics

Most points

Player	Team	Points
Va'a Apelu Maliko	Chennai Bulls	75
Akuila Rokolisoa	Bengaluru Bravehearts	69
Terio Tamani	Hyderabad Heroes	66
Philip Wokorach	Bengaluru Bravehearts	64
Joji Nasova	Hyderabad Heroes	52

Source

Most tries

Player	Team	Tries
Va'a Apelu Maliko	Chennai Bulls	15
Philip Wokorach	Bengaluru Bravehearts	12
Joji Nasova	Hyderabad Heroes	10
Javed Hussain	Hyderabad Heroes	8
Terry Kennedy	Chennai Bulls	8

Source

Most conversions

Player	Team	Conversions
Terio Tamani	Hyderabad Heroes	18
Akuila Rokolisoa	Bengaluru Bravehearts	17
Maurice Longbottom	Kalinga Black Tigers	14
Filipe Sauturaga	Chennai Bulls	11
Joaquín Pellandini	Chennai Bulls	10

Source

Most tackles

Player	Team	Tackles
Max Roddick	Hyderabad Heroes	31
Manu Moreno	Hyderabad Heroes	30
Joseva Talacolo	Chennai Bulls	28
Michael Coverdale	Delhi Redz	27
Filipe Sauturaga	Chennai Bulls	27

Source

Awards

Category	Player	Team
Player of the Tournament	Va'a Apelu Maliko	Chennai Bulls
Emerging Player of the Seasom	Philip Wokorach	Bengaluru Bravehearts
Indian Player of the Season	Javed Hussain	Hyderabad Heroes

Broadcasting

India

Online

RugbyPass TV

References

^ "Rugby Premier League set to start next year". Hindustan Times.
^ "Rugby Premier League Set to Start Next Year, Rahul Bose Calls It 'Game-Changer' For India". News18. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
^ News, India TV; Desk, India TV News (29 June 2025). "Chennai Bulls script history, clinch maiden Rugby Premier League title defeating Delhi Redz | Other News – India TV". www.indiatvnews.com. Retrieved 29 June 2025. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
^ "Rugby Premier League Set To Revolutionise Rugby 7s In India | Sports News". News18. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
^ "Franchise-based Rugby Premier League launched in Mumbai, set to take place in June 2025 - CNBC TV18". CNBCTV18. 4 April 2025. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
^ "Six years, one dream: Rahul Bose kickstarts India's own Rugby Premier League". English.Mathrubhumi. 5 April 2025. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
^ IANS (5 April 2025). "Rugby Premier League to start on June 1 with six teams, 30 foreign players". The Statesman. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
^ "Rugby Premier League to debut with six teams - The Economic Times". m.economictimes.com. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
^ rugbyasia247 (5 April 2025). "Indian Rugby Premier League - Will The New Professional 7s Francise Tournament Match The Hype?". RugbyAsia247. Retrieved 5 April 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ Sportstar, Team (4 April 2025). "Rugby 7s franchise-based league set to launch in Mumbai in June". sportstar.thehindu.com. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
^ "From Olympics gold medallists to World Cup winners: Meet the teams, best players, coaches in Rugby Premier League". ESPN. 14 June 2025. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
^ "Mohit Khatri Becomes India's Most Expensive Rugby Player After Rugby Premier League Season 1 Auctions | Sports News". News18. Retrieved 5 April 2025.

[1] "Rugby Premier League set to start next year". Hindustan Times.

[2] "Rugby Premier League Set to Start Next Year, Rahul Bose Calls It 'Game-Changer' For India". News18. Retrieved 23 December 2024.

[3] News, India TV; Desk, India TV News (29 June 2025). "Chennai Bulls script history, clinch maiden Rugby Premier League title defeating Delhi Redz | Other News – India TV". www.indiatvnews.com. Retrieved 29 June 2025. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)

[4] "Rugby Premier League Set To Revolutionise Rugby 7s In India | Sports News". News18. Retrieved 4 April 2025.

[5] "Franchise-based Rugby Premier League launched in Mumbai, set to take place in June 2025 - CNBC TV18". CNBCTV18. 4 April 2025. Retrieved 4 April 2025.

[6] "Six years, one dream: Rahul Bose kickstarts India's own Rugby Premier League". English.Mathrubhumi. 5 April 2025. Retrieved 5 April 2025.

[7] IANS (5 April 2025). "Rugby Premier League to start on June 1 with six teams, 30 foreign players". The Statesman. Retrieved 5 April 2025.

[8] "Rugby Premier League to debut with six teams - The Economic Times". m.economictimes.com. Retrieved 4 April 2025.

[:0-9] rugbyasia247 (5 April 2025). "Indian Rugby Premier League - Will The New Professional 7s Francise Tournament Match The Hype?". RugbyAsia247. Retrieved 5 April 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[10] Sportstar, Team (4 April 2025). "Rugby 7s franchise-based league set to launch in Mumbai in June". sportstar.thehindu.com. Retrieved 4 April 2025.

[11] "From Olympics gold medallists to World Cup winners: Meet the teams, best players, coaches in Rugby Premier League". ESPN. 14 June 2025. Retrieved 15 June 2025.

[12] "Mohit Khatri Becomes India's Most Expensive Rugby Player After Rugby Premier League Season 1 Auctions | Sports News". News18. Retrieved 5 April 2025.

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