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Tom Hamilton
England will face the Springboks in South Africa in the opening round of rugby union’s new-look Nations Championship competition which will launch in July.
The joint venture between the Six Nations and SANZAAR sees England, Italy, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Wales travel to the southern hemisphere in July for three Test matches against New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Japan and Fiji.
The southern hemisphere sides will then travel north in November for three further Test matches.
The results across all six matches per nation feed into a league table, one for each hemisphere. These placings tee up a finals weekend, played at Twickenham on Nov. 27-29. This sees the sixth-ranked team from the southern hemisphere play its equivalent in the northern hemisphere, and so on, with the matches culminating in both top seeds facing off against each other for the inaugural Nations Championship trophy.
For England, their summer line up sees them play South Africa, Fiji (likely in South Africa too) and Argentina in July. They’ll then play Australia, New Zealand and Japan at Twickenham the following November.
Ireland have Australia, Japan and New Zealand in July with Argentina, Fiji and the Springboks at home in November.
Wales face Fiji, Argentina and South Africa in July and they will then host Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
Scotland travel to Argentina, South Africa and Fiji in July before hosting Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Confirmation of this tournament has been a long-time coming, given the original format was unveiled during the 2023 Rugby World Cup. It will be a biennial tournament, played on the years where there isn’t a World Cup or a British & Irish Lions tour, and it replaces the traditional three-Test summer series.
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“The Nations Championship has the power to redefine the future of rugby, and the partnership between Six Nations Rugby and SANZAAR signals a tectonic shift in the sport,” Six Nations CEO Tom Harrison said.
“Rugby’s strongest nations have collaborated with a clear vision to grow the game, by challenging traditional ways of operating to create a tournament structure with genuine global relevance, which will unlock the true value of the sport.”
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Harrison added he feels the tournament will “act as a catalyst to grow rugby’s reach, globally” and “will take international rugby to new heights”.
Brendan Morris, CEO of SANZAAR stated: “The establishment of The Nations Championship is an historic and exciting move for rugby that will see the SANZAAR Member Unions, with the addition of Fiji and Japan, take on the best of Europe and the Northern Hemisphere on a biennial basis.
“The SANZAAR nations have a proud and successful record at international level. Our aim is to continue this record, and the Nations Championship, along with our rugby calendar for the 2026-2030 period, will provide the perfect pathway for continued success.”
“We warmly welcome our Pacific neighbours Japan and Fiji into the tournament, as part of our ‘team’. The participating teams are excited, the broadcasters are excited, and the fans are excited, and we very much look forward to July 2026 when it all kicks-off.”
Full Nations Championship fixture list:
NOVEMBER 2026 – SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE SERIES
Round 1 — Saturday July, 4 2026
New Zealand vs France
Australia vs Ireland
Japan vs Italy
Fiji vs Wales
South Africa vs England
Argentina vs Scotland
Round 2 — Saturday July 11, 2026
New Zealand vs Italy
Australia vs France
Japan vs Ireland
Fiji vs England
South Africa vs Scotland
Argentina vs Wales
Round 3 — Saturday July 18, 2026
Japan vs France
New Zealand vs Ireland
Australia vs Italy
Fiji vs Scotland
South Africa vs Wales
Argentina vs England
NOVEMBER 2026 – NORTHERN HEMISPHERE SERIES
Round 4 — Nov. 6-8, 2026
Ireland vs Argentina
Italy vs South Africa
Scotland vs New Zealand
Wales vs Japan
France vs Fiji
England vs Australia
Round 5 — Nov. 13-15, 2026
France vs South Africa
Italy vs Argentina
Wales vs New Zealand
England vs Japan
Ireland vs Fiji
Scotland vs Australia
Round 6 — Saturday Nov. 21, 2026
England vs New Zealand
Scotland vs Japan
Ireland vs South Africa
Italy vs Fiji
France vs Argentina
Wales vs Australia
