Nations Championship to open with six-Test Saturday

Breaking news from the world of sport: Nations Championship to open with six-Test SaturdayImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, England and South Africa - who meet on the opening day of the Nations Championship - last played each other at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium in November 2024, with the Springboks winning 29-20ByMike Henson Sport rugby union news reporterPublished8 minutes agoThe new Nations Championship - a biennial series pitting northern hemisphere superpowers against their southern counterparts - will begin with a six-Test Super Saturday round of fixtures on 4 July. Fans will be able to watch nearly nine hours of Test rugby, with kick-offs staggered throughout the day. New Zealand host France at Christchurch's newly opened One New Zealand Stadium at 08:10 BST in the competition's first fixture, with Australia v Ireland (11:10) and South Africa v England (16:40) among the opening round's other highlights.

Fiji, who are staging their home fixtures in the northern hemisphere to ease logistics and maximise revenue, take on Wales at Cardiff City Stadium at 14:10, with Argentina facing Scotland in Cordoba at 20:10 in the day's final match. The concept of a fixture-packed single day of action is repeated in the following two rounds of action, on 11 and 18 July. Time differences mean that the action will straddle two days for fans in New Zealand and Australia, however.

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"The schedule of fixtures and kick-off times across the tournament highlights the commitment to give global fans access to an incredible set of clashes and structured in a way that means they need never miss a moment of the action," said Six Nations chief executive Tom Harrison. The new tournament represents unprecedented collaboration between Six Nations and Sanzaar, who organise the southern hemisphere's Rugby Championship. Traditionally, northern hemisphere sides would individually organise tours for July - usually centred on Test series in a single southern-hemisphere nation.

Southern-hemisphere sides would then travel north in November on separate itineraries for the autumn internationals. Nations Championship to have north v south finale Published17 November 2025Three countries, 25,000 miles - England's daunting summer itinerary Published23 FebruaryThe new format is an attempt to bring an overarching narrative to the Test calendar, outside of years involving a men's Rugby World Cup or British and Irish Lions tour. The Nations Championship involves every Six Nations team playing South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Japan and Fiji once each, with fixtures spread over July and November.

The teams' results contribute to their position in a pool from their own hemisphere. A finals weekend at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium follows, with teams facing off against their equivalent in the other hemisphere - for example, the sixth-placed southern hemisphere side takes on the sixth-placed northern hemisphere side, and so on.

The story has climbed to the top of the sports agenda, with fans and analysts following closely.