Tom Harrison Unveils Six-Test Super Saturday for Nations Championship — Bbc Sport Rugby
sport rugby has the Nations Championship opening on 4 July with six Test matches packed into one day, starting a new biennial format that spreads fixtures across July and November. The first round runs across nearly nine hours, with staggered kick-offs and a finals weekend later at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.
Six Nations chief executive Tom Harrison said the fixture schedule was built to widen access. “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” he said.
Christchurch to Cordoba
New Zealand host France at Christchurch’s newly opened One New Zealand Stadium at 08:10 BST in the competition’s first fixture. Australia play Ireland at 11:10, Fiji take on Wales at Cardiff City Stadium at 14:10, South Africa face England at 16:40, and Argentina meet Scotland in Cordoba at 20:10 in the day’s final match.
That opening day is part of a fixture-packed single Saturday that will be repeated in the next two rounds on 11 July and 18 July. The schedule gives the tournament a compressed launch, with all six matches spread across the same day rather than staggered over a longer opening window.
England and South Africa
The opening round also brings England back into a familiar contest at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium. South Africa beat England 29-20 there in November 2024, and the rematch arrives as one of the headline fixtures on the first day of the competition.
The Nations Championship is a new biennial series that pairs northern hemisphere teams against southern hemisphere opposition, with every Six Nations side playing South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Japan and Fiji once each. Fixtures will be split between July and November, and the play-offs at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium will decide the inaugural champions and the first hemisphere trophy winners.
