South Africa's 2026 Nations Championship schedule revealed

The first ever edition of the Nations Championship will bring together 12 of the best men’s rugby playing nations in a battle for supremacy like no other – and the Springboks are favourites.

While the Rugby World Cup provide a similar battle for silverware between the best, this inaugural tournament will see the top 12 sides split into two groups of six teams in a move to provide competitive action.

The two pools are split geographically, with one group made up of the Six Nations sides of Europe and the other made up of the ‘Rest of the World’, which holds the Rugby Championship sides along with Fiji and Japan. 

The idea will be to bring some form of jeopardy to the tours that happened across July and November previously. 

South Africa are leading the betting odds with bookmakers to secure the first ever Nations Championship crown.

Nations Championship Rugby format 

The tournament is a complete rejig of what many rugby fans have come to expect from the tours across July and November.  

Generally, bragging rights and a series win were the only things on the line across these contests, but the Nations Championship instead seeks to add some real stakes and silverware to the contests. 

Over two international windows, each nation will take on the other six sides from the opposite pool once. Three of these games will be played at home, while three will be played away from home. 

Points are awarded as such:

• 4 points for a win
• 2 points for a draw
• 0 points for a loss
• 1 bonus point for scoring 4 or more tries 
• 1 bonus point for losing by seven points or less 

With six teams battling in both groups, the top two sides in the separate groups will come together to fight for the trophy and the honour of being named Nations Championship winners.

Springboks schedule 

South Africa will split their matches across three home ties in July and three away contests in November. Their schedule for the tournament is as follows:

Southern Hemisphere Series (Home Fixtures)

• Round 1 – South Africa vs England – July 4 – Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg 
• Round 2 – South Africa vs Scotland – July 11 – Loftus Versfeld Stadium Pretoria 
• Round 3 – South Africa vs Wales – July 18 – Kings Park Stadium, Durban 

Northern Hemisphere Series (Away Fixtures)

• Round 4 - Italy vs South Africa – November 7 – TBC 
• Round 5 – France vs South Africa – November 13 – Stade de France, Paris 
• Round 6 – Ireland vs South Africa – November 20 – Aviva Stadium, Dublin 

After six rounds across international windows in July and November, a finals series will be played to find the final rankings of each of the 12 nations. This will see the teams ranked in sixth in either group going head-to-head in the 11th place final with the pair in fifth battling in the ninth place final and so on. 

This means that if South Africa can win all six of their matches and appear in the final, they will likely meet one of France, Ireland or England in the showpiece event. 

The fixtures for the finals series are as follows:

• 11th Place Final – Northern 6 vs Southern 6 – November 27 – Twickenham Stadium, London 
• 9th Place Final – Northern 5 vs Southern 5 – November 28 - Twickenham Stadium, London
• 7th Place Final – Northern 4 vs Southern 4 – November 29 - Twickenham Stadium, London
• 5th Place Final – Northern 3 vs Southern 3 – November 27 - Twickenham Stadium, London
• 3rd Place Final – Northern 2 vs Southern 2 – November 28 - Twickenham Stadium, London
• Nations Championship Final – Northern 1 vs Southern 1 – November 29 - Twickenham Stadium, London

At the end of the two international windows, South Africa will hope to secure a place in the Nations Championship Final on November 29.

This will of course require them to win most if not all of their matches against England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, France and Ireland, with the Springboks given arguably the harder fixtures to play away from home. 

Despite this, the double reigning world champions will not feel any side has the ability to match them over the course of seven matches.

The number one ranked side in the world will be incredibly difficult to stop wherever they play. Can South Africa add the Nations Champions title to their trophy cabinet?