The Nations Championship, a joint venture between Six Nations Rugby and SANZAAR, gets underway in days after years of development, bringing together the 12 strongest international sides in a biennial cross-hemisphere tournament that its architects describe as the sport's most consequential structural reform since the professional era began.
SA Rugby President Mark Alexander, who serves as Co-Chair of the Nations Championship alongside Six Nations Rugby Chair Ronan Dunne, says the tournament "reflects our collective belief that rugby's future must be shaped through partnership, not fragmentation."
The format divides into two phases. July opens with three consecutive 'Super Saturdays' of back-to-back fixtures, with the Six Nations unions representing the Northern Hemisphere against the SANZAAR nations plus invitational sides Japan and Fiji for the Southern Hemisphere. The competition resumes in November with a full month of Northern Hemisphere fixtures, culminating in a Finals Weekend at Allianz Stadium in London — three days of double headers that will determine the inaugural champion.
Alongside the outright title, a Hemisphere Crown will be awarded to the group that accumulates the most points across the Finals Weekend, adding a secondary stakes dimension to every fixture.
Dunne framed the tournament as "a key pillar within the newly aligned global rugby calendar, connecting the existing July and November international windows through a unique cross-hemisphere format" in which points, rankings and silverware are on the line in every match.
The broader calendar reform also introduces the World Rugby Nations Cup, a second-tier competition operated by World Rugby that provides a competitive platform for performance unions sitting outside the top 12.