Kicking up support for 'olive ball' expansion

Brett Gosper, CEO of World Rugby, didn't appreciate the speed at which things can move in China until he experienced it for himself.

Last October, Alisports, an arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba, signed a $100 million partnership deal with Dublin-based World Rugby that was aimed at growing the sport in China.

Gosper and his team set themselves the aggressive target of recruiting 1 million new players over the following 10 years.