England will face the Springboks in South Africa within the opening spherical of rugby union’s new-look Nations Championship competitors which is able to launch in July.
The three way partnership between the Six Nations and SANZAAR sees England, Italy, Eire, Wales, Scotland and Wales journey to the southern hemisphere in July for 3 Check matches in opposition to New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Japan and Fiji.
The southern hemisphere sides will then journey north in November for 3 additional Check matches.
The outcomes throughout all six matches per nation feed right into a league desk, one for every hemisphere. These placings tee up a finals weekend, performed at Twickenham on Nov. 27-29. This sees the sixth-ranked group from the southern hemisphere play its equal within the northern hemisphere, and so forth, with the matches culminating in each high seeds dealing with off in opposition to one another for the inaugural Nations Championship trophy.
For England, their summer time line up sees them play South Africa, Fiji (probably in South Africa too) and Argentina in July. They’re going to then play Australia, New Zealand and Japan at Twickenham the next November.
Eire have Australia, Japan and New Zealand in July with Argentina, Fiji and the Springboks at dwelling in November.
Wales face Fiji, Argentina and South Africa in July and they’ll then host Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
Scotland journey to Argentina, South Africa and Fiji in July earlier than internet hosting Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Affirmation of this event has been a long-time coming, given the unique format was unveiled through the 2023 Rugby World Cup. It is going to be a biennial event, performed on the years the place there is not a World Cup or a British & Irish Lions tour, and it replaces the standard three-Check summer time sequence.
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“The Nations Championship has the facility to redefine the way forward for rugby, and the partnership between Six Nations Rugby and SANZAAR alerts a tectonic shift within the sport,” Six Nations CEO Tom Harrison stated.
“Rugby’s strongest nations have collaborated with a transparent imaginative and prescient to develop the sport, by difficult conventional methods of working to create a event construction with real world relevance, which is able to unlock the true worth of the game.”
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Harrison added he feels the event will “act as a catalyst to develop rugby’s attain, globally” and “will take worldwide rugby to new heights”.
Brendan Morris, CEO of SANZAAR acknowledged: “The institution of The Nations Championship is an historic and thrilling transfer for rugby that can see the SANZAAR Member Unions, with the addition of Fiji and Japan, tackle the perfect of Europe and the Northern Hemisphere on a biennial foundation.
“The SANZAAR nations have a proud and profitable file at worldwide stage. Our goal is to proceed this file, and the Nations Championship, together with our rugby calendar for the 2026-2030 interval, will present the right pathway for continued success.”
“We warmly welcome our Pacific neighbours Japan and Fiji into the event, as a part of our ‘group’. The collaborating groups are excited, the broadcasters are excited, and the followers are excited, and we very a lot sit up for July 2026 when all of it kicks-off.”
Full Nations Championship fixture record:
NOVEMBER 2026 – SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE SERIES
Spherical 1 — Saturday July, 4 2026
New Zealand vs France
Australia vs Eire
Japan vs Italy
Fiji vs Wales
South Africa vs England
Argentina vs Scotland
Spherical 2 — Saturday July 11, 2026
New Zealand vs Italy
Australia vs France
Japan vs Eire
Fiji vs England
South Africa vs Scotland
Argentina vs Wales
Spherical 3 — Saturday July 18, 2026
Japan vs France
New Zealand vs Eire
Australia vs Italy
Fiji vs Scotland
South Africa vs Wales
Argentina vs England
NOVEMBER 2026 – NORTHERN HEMISPHERE SERIES
Spherical 4 — Nov. 6-8, 2026
Eire vs Argentina
Italy vs South Africa
Scotland vs New Zealand
Wales vs Japan
France vs Fiji
England vs Australia
Spherical 5 — Nov. 13-15, 2026
France vs South Africa
Italy vs Argentina
Wales vs New Zealand
England vs Japan
Eire vs Fiji
Scotland vs Australia
Spherical 6 — Saturday Nov. 21, 2026
England vs New Zealand
Scotland vs Japan
Eire vs South Africa
Italy vs Fiji
France vs Argentina
Wales vs Australia
