NZ Rugby and Rugby Australia are celebrating a new seven-year deal that will carry Super Rugby Pacific - or future iterations - through 2030, but they're already turning their attention to a trans-Tasman women's competition.
While the official announcement at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art was designed to hype a men's competition that seemed at risk of collapsing when the current term ended next year, protagonists from both rival organisations were quick to pinpoint how they could add value to the brand.
Top of the priorities seems to be a combined women's competition to build on the recent success of the Rugby World Cup, which drove record crowds to New Zealand's biggest stadium to witness a Black Ferns triumph.
"This partnership will give us the opportunity to look at exciting commercial and other opportunities outside Super Rugby Pacific," said Rugby Australia chief executive Andy Marinos. "There's an alignment of thought and vision about how we want to position ourselves.
"We'll be looking at can we evolve the women's game, and how can we take this product outside Australia and New Zealand."
His sentiments were echoed by NZ Rugby counterpart Mark Robinson.
"Right on our back doorstep, we've seen some phenomenal scenes around the women's game," he said. "Andy and I share a vision - and so do the clubs - about what the women's game can represent in a professional era, and we're excited about where that can take us."
After a one-off fixture between Chiefs and Blues in 2021, NZ Rugby launched the four-team Super Rugby Aupiki this year, with Chiefs Manawa emerging top of the table, after beating the Blues in the final round.
Next year, the draw will be extended by four games to include semi-finals, a third-fourth playoff and final - a step in the right direction, but still short of an ideal format.
Across the Tasman, Australia expanded their Super W competition with the addition of Fijiana Drua, who duly upset four-time defending champions NSW Waratahs in a pulsating final.
Connecting the two competitions would seem a logical next step.
"We put out a pretty big statement of intent when we expanded Super W and brought in Fijiana," said Marinos. "It was a fantastic addition and we've seen what that's done for the growth of their game.
"To Mark and his team, congratulations on winning that World Cup and it does set a good marker for women's rugby in this part of the world.
"For us with our Super W and them with Aupiki, it creates a good opportunity to have that cross-pollination of games, help grow both performance programmes, and set ourselves up for 2025 and 2029."
