From July 2026, international rugby union will enter a transformative new phase with the launch of the Rugby Nations Championship. It is a biennial global competition designed to bring the best teams from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres together in a structured and competitive new format. This tournament introduces a fresh approach to the international calendar, replacing the traditional summer tours and offering a more meaningful competitive structure outside of Rugby World Cup years.
What Is the Nations Championship? – A Simple Overview
The Nations Championship is an international men’s rugby union competition featuring 12 of the world’s top national teams. It was officially approved by World Rugby in 2023 and will be held every two years, with the first edition scheduled for July and November 2026. The aim of the tournament is to provide a regular and competitive cross-hemisphere competition, which can help improve rugby’s global appeal.
Who Participates?
The Nations Championship will have six southern hemisphere hosts in July, and six northern hemisphere hosts in winter. For the purposes of the event, Japan, despite being firmly in the Northern Hemisphere, are considered a Southern Hemisphere side.
| Six Nations Teams | SANZAAR + invitees |
|---|---|
| England | South Africa |
| Scotland | New Zealand |
| Wales | Australia |
| Ireland | Argentina |
| France | Fiji (Invited) |
| Italy | Japan (Invited) |
Georgia can consider themselves a little unfortunate not to have been included in this tournament, given they spent much of 2025 in 11th place in the global rankings (ahead of Wales and Japan), and indeed that was their position when the fixtures were announced.
Why Now? A Revamp of International Rugby
Traditionally, Northern Hemisphere nations travel south in the mid-year for tours (Summer Internationals), playing a series of test matches, and then Southern Hemisphere teams tour north in November for the Autumn Internationals. These fixtures, while historic, have lacked a consistent competitive purpose beyond honour and ranking points.
The Nations Championship reforms that model by turning fixtures across July and November into part of a larger competitive tournament. This means every match counts towards a tournament table and the finals weekend, rather than just being isolated tests.
Another reason for the timing is that the Nations Championship avoids years with a Rugby World Cup or a British and Irish Lions tour, allowing it to sit comfortably in the calendar and attract maximum attention without clashing with the sport’s other marquee events.
Tournament Format Explained
The Nations Championship is coming in 2026.
Click below to find out more on a brand new tournament which will pit the best men’s teams in the world against each other on the global stage 👇
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) November 17, 2025
The Nations Championship’s structure is designed to ensure top sides face off regularly against a wide range of opponents. Rather than traditional pools where teams play others in their own group, the Nations Championship adopts a cross-conference model.
- The 12 teams are split into two conferences: a Northern Hemisphere group (Six Nations) and a Southern Hemisphere group (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina – aka SANZAAR – plus Japan and Fiji).
- Across two international windows, July and November 2026, each team plays six matches with every match against teams in the opposite conference.
- Each team will have three matches in July in the Southern Hemisphere and three in November in the Northern Hemisphere.
This means, for example, when England travel south, they will face South Africa, Fiji, and Argentina. Then, four months later, they will host Australia, Japan and New Zealand. It should be noted that to reduce travelling, Fiji are likely to play their home matches in South Africa and/or the UK.
As the fixtures for the 2026 edition have all been confirmed, fans can put the dates into their calendars.
Points System
The Nations Championship uses the standard World Rugby points system:
- 4 points for a win
- 2 points for a draw
- 0 points for a loss
- 1 bonus point for 4+ tries
- 1 bonus point for losing by fewer than 8 points
Finals Weekend
After all cross-conference fixtures are played, the competition culminates in a Finals Weekend in late November 2026, hosted at the Allianz Stadium, London (Twickenham). Across three days, six matches will feature. The bottom-ranked north team will play the bottom-ranked south team, and so on across the table. To ensure a climactic finish, the highest-placing sides from both hemispheres will play each other on the final match of the final day.
What Does It Mean for World Rugby?
The Nations Championship represents one of the most significant calendar reforms in modern rugby union. It brings structure, continuity, and purpose to international tests in even-numbered years outside World Cup cycles. By guaranteeing competitive fixtures between top teams across hemispheres, it aims to increase global engagement and perhaps even some long-term rivalries.
An important point to note about the Nations Championship is that it launches alongside a secondary competition, the World Rugby Nations Cup. This is similar to the Nations Championship in that it is a 12-team competition, with teams coming from two broadly geographic pools. However, it is for tier-two nations, rather than the elite, namely Canada, Chile, Georgia, Hong Kong, Portugal, Romania, Samoa, Spain, Tonga, Uruguay, the United States, and Zimbabwe.
This will run concurrently with the Nations Championship, and promotion/relegation is planned to begin from 2030. This two-tiered system, with nations able to go up and down between divisions, will help provide additional drama to both competitions.
Criticism and Challenges
Not everyone has embraced the Nations Championship unreservedly. Some critics warn that ring-fencing elite teams could reduce opportunities for smaller rugby nations to play top-tier opposition, potentially stifling global growth. Others have expressed concerns that introducing a new championship might dilute the prestige of the Rugby World Cup and even make it a bit redundant. Another concern surrounds travelling as the southern hemisphere nations are so far apart, northern hemisphere teams will end up clocking some serious air miles.
It is fair to say fan opinion on this new format is mixed, but nevertheless, World Rugby and participating unions are committed to the model. They argue that a big change like this is required to improve the health of the international game and draw in new audiences. Only time will tell if it ends up being a success.