Beginning in 2026, Fiji, Japan, and the Rugby Championship will play for the Nations Championship in World Rugby’s new competition.
The World Rugby Council officially approved the launch of a new international rugby competition that will pit the best twelve teams in the world against each other in 2026.
The 12-team league will involve the Six Nations and Rugby Championship sides together with Fiji and Japan, and will replace the existing June and November test periods.
The Six Nations competition will continue, although it will be shortened from seven to six weeks in order to fit the new timetable. Additionally, it is said that the Six Nations will now take place from the end of February until April.
There were rumours that the plan may be rejected at the last minute, raising concerns that developing tier two countries like Portugal, Uruguay, and Georgia might be left out in the cold. However, according to sources in France and England, the vote—which needed 75% approval—passed by a just three votes.
The Rugby World Cup and the British and Irish Lions tours will rotate with the tournament, which will be known as the “Nations Championship.”
Three away games against southern opponents are scheduled for northern hemisphere teams in the July window; the rematch will take place in the November window. Thereafter, a grand final would pit the winners of each pool against one another.
In an effort to provide a more challenging testing environment, the Championship plans to implement promotion and relegation starting in 2030. This would guarantee that emerging countries like Georgia, Portugal, Samoa, and others will have the chance to play tier one teams in the planned second-class event that is scheduled to take place concurrently with the Nations Championship.
The current tier two competition will include countries that are presently placed 13–24 in the World Rugby rankings. They are the United States, Uruguay, Portugal, Georgia, Samoa, Tonga, Namibia, Chile, Canada, and Hong Kong.
The goal of this strategy is to build strength below the tier one countries as World Rugby prepares to expand the Rugby World Cup from 20 to 24 teams in 2027.
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