Nations Championship: Is this just the start?

This year has seen the launch of the inaugural Nations Championship competition, created to restructure the global calendar and inject competitive meaning into the traditional mid-year and end-of-year Test windows.

For decades, July and November international rugby windows consisted of largely ‘disconnected’ Test matches and tours, but the Nations Championship has aimed to unite these windows into a cohesive, structured global league format.

It is set to be held biennially in even-numbered years (avoiding a clash with the Rugby World Cup and British & Irish Lions tours), pitting the Northern Hemisphere against the Southern Hemisphere in a points-accumulating league table