The Sunwolves and a Fiji team would live on in an Asian Super Rugby competition under top secret plans being worked up by SANZAAR.

In a move unlikely to soften the blow to the Sunwolves, who were informed late on Wednesday they would be cut from Super Rugby from 2021, it appears there would still be a place for them in a division two-style tie-up with Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest's Global Rapid Rugby.

To the rescue again? Billionaire Andrew Forrest is in discussions to partly fund an Asian Super Rugby with SANZAAR.

The concept is understood to be the next cab off the rank for SANZAAR, who will announce their Super Rugby plans on Friday but cannot make any broader decisions on the Rugby Championship or other competitions until there is certainty about World Rugby's Nations Championship plan.

That should come by the end of the month, with the 12-team global competition to live or die by a March 29 deadline for the unions to enter an exclusive negotiation period.