Gavin Rich previews the Nations Championship's opening weekend, which packs all six fixtures into a single Saturday. The headline act for South African fans is obviously the Boks vs England at Ellis Park, but Rich argues that Rennie's All Blacks debut against a Bordeaux-Bégles-heavy France side in Christchurch runs it close in terms of global significance. With Dupont sidelined for the entire southern hemisphere leg — a recurring theme given his near-total absence from big southern hemisphere occasions — Rich raises a pointed question about how the 'world's best' tag holds up without a CV that includes success below the equator. That question looms larger given the 2027 World Cup is in Australia.
Beyond the marquee clashes, Rich takes aim at the competition's structural awkwardness: Fiji's 'home' game is in Cardiff, Japan host Ireland in Australia, and England will criss-cross hemispheres mid-tournament. Schmidt is still in charge of the Wallabies despite having been due to leave after the Lions series, while Ireland — written off by some after a patchy Six Nations — arrive in Sydney ranked third in the world and with plenty still in the tank. Rich's overall verdict: the Nations Championship format has real teething problems, but Saturday's slate of fixtures is genuinely compelling regardless.