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Super Rugby: Teams from Japan and Argentina plus Southern Kings to join 2016 competition

Super Rugby trophy

Teams from Argentina and Japan will compete in Super Rugby from the start of the 2016 season, the league's organising committee SANZAR has confirmed.

Franchises based in Buenos Aires and Japan are now able to start contracting players ahead of their entry into the competition, which is being expanded to 18 teams.

The current 15-team competition will also be expanded by the permanent return of the Southern Kings, who missed out on the 2014 season after losing a promotion/relegation playoff with the Lions.

The six South African teams will be split into two groups of three with one of the new teams from Argentina and Japan, forming two four-strong South Africa conferences. The composition of the conferences is yet to be approved by the South African Rugby Union.

"It gives me great pleasure to welcome the JRFU and UAR who will join the Kings from South Africa as Super Rugby prepares to expand into a bold and exciting new era," SANZAR chief executive Greg Peters said in London after contracts were signed.

"As top-10 ranked rugby nations with established high performance level leagues and over 100,000 players each, there is no doubt as to Japan and Argentina's rugby readiness and passion for the sport.

"With a heritage stretching back some 115 years, Japan also offers tremendous infrastructure and an active fan base that we view as pivotal to the ongoing sustainability of the team.

"Japan has also been the focus of strategic investment by the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) and we view the region as a high growth, high potential sports and economic market with the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the 2020 Olympic Games and now Super Rugby on the imminent horizon."

Agustin Pichot, Argentina's member on the World Rugby Council, said: "Since we started with this project of insertion in the game's elite, at the end of 2007, it was crucial to have regular competition for our players.

"Playing in The Rugby Championship was crucial for this process but we still needed this final and key step of having an Argentine franchise in the world´s top tournament, Super Rugby.

"With this, we now complete the pathway for Argentine players from grassroots to the professional game."

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