New Zealand and France open the Nations Championship on Saturday, with matches stretching from Christchurch to Cardiff and even treating Tokyo as the “southern hemisphere.” The 12-team North vs South tournament runs six rounds into a finals series in London in
When New Zealand and France kick off the Nations Championship on Saturday, it won’t just mark the start of another rugby cycle. It will begin a new experiment—one that stretches travel maps and tries to fuse long-separated rugby calendars into a single North-versus-South showpiece.
The tournament starts across venues from Christchurch to Cardiff. and it does so in a backdrop most fans know well: the soccer World Cup is underway. and rugby is living in its shadow. The opening match features New Zealand against France. Japan plays Italy, Australia takes on Ireland, Fiji hosts Wales, and South Africa will play England.
The geography gets rearranged on purpose. Fiji will be treated as playing “at home” in Cardiff. Wales. and Japan will be deemed to be in the southern hemisphere for the duration of the tournament—despite Tokyo being. for most practical purposes. firmly in the north. World Rugby bills the competition as North vs. South and divides it into two conferences. In the southern conference. northern teams are scheduled to travel south in July; in the northern conference. southern teams will travel north in November.
Six rounds of matches will feed into a finals series in London in late November. World Rugby says it will identify the best team in the world—an ambition that echoes the World Cup, which has already done that “more forensically” every four years.
Rugby has long lacked an integrated rhythm between southern and northern seasons. The Nations Championship is meant to close that gap. while also creating content that broadcasters can build around and generating plenty of air miles along the way. England’s squad. for example. will zigzag from Johannesburg—where they play their first match Saturday—to Liverpool. where they will be “hosted” by Fiji. and then to Argentina.
For the teams, the contest also carries the weight of what comes after it. Looming larger for the All Blacks and Springboks is their four-test contest in August. For everyone, though, the calendar points forward to the 2027 World Cup.
If the Nations Championship is not a guaranteed measure of fan appetite, the early ticket numbers offer a blunt snapshot. When tickets went on sale for the South Africa-England match at Ellis Park—seating 62,000—barely 21,000 were sold early on.
A South Africa Rugby spokesperson told the Rapport newspaper that the impact of the war in Iran “has undoubtedly had an impact on everyone’s pockets. ” and that this shows up both in retail and ticket sales. They said the organization hopes to reach close to the historical average attendance against England in South Africa. described as 91% of the stadium’s capacity.
Even with that uncertainty in the stands, the teams say they are treating the start as business. The South Africa squad has been training earnestly for the occasion.
Head coach Rassie Erasmus said England present a different challenge than the team faced against the Barbarians. arguing England are a “settled squad” and come off a Six Nations campaign. Erasmus said the Boks were “pleased” they had the chance to give players “invaluable game time” before the Nations Championship. He added that the team is aligned on expectations and standards going into the competition and that they are ready to get the international season into full swing.
For New Zealand, the opening test arrives under a new leadership style. The All Blacks will be led by Dave Rennie, their new coach, who has been drawing controversy—though the focus has been on who he left out more than who he picked.
New Zealand will face a France squad bolstered by the return of players who took part in the French Top 14 club final, including flyhalf Romain Ntamack from four-time champion Toulouse. There is a setback for France: scrumhalf Antoine Dupont is ruled out.
Ntamack said he hopes New Zealand and France can bring their end-of-season energy into the tour. He said there will be two matches to play on the tour—against New Zealand and Australia—and that they will be in “two different contexts.” He added that going down with a feeling of job done is something they are aiming for.
Across the tournament slate. Australia’s first match in the Nations Championship is set for Sydney against Ireland on Saturday. and that game is a sellout. As the Wallabies move from the Joe Schmidt coaching era into the beginning of the Les Kiss era. there is new optimism in Australian rugby—despite what came before.
Australia’s end-of-year tour to Britain last year ended winless, and Australian teams again fell short in Super Rugby. Veteran prop Allan Alaalatoa said Australia will “definitely look to rectify that.” He pointed to the sellout as proof of passion for rugby in Australia and said it definitely motivates the Wallabies.
Japan, Argentina, and Fiji will open their Nations Championship campaigns looking to prove themselves in a tournament that is still trying to win its place on the rugby calendar.
In the end. the schedule may be the headline: Christchurch to Cardiff. Tokyo counted as southern. and a finals series in London late in November. But the real test starts the moment the ball is kicked—across a sport trying to stitch north and south together while fans decide whether they can afford to join in.
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