Latest news with #NationsChampionship
NZ Herald
15-07-2025
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend hopeful of future tests against All Blacks in New Zealand
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend hopes the planned biennial Nations Championship will allow his side to end a quarter-century wait and challenge the All Blacks on New Zealand soil. The Scots are currently in Auckland, preparing for Friday's clash against Samoa at Eden Park in what will be their first test
CNA
02-07-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Fiji look to soften up Wallabies before Lions series
MELBOURNE :All but forgotten in the hype of a British and Irish Lions tour, Fiji have gathered in a rain-soaked corner of eastern Australia to plot a confidence-killing defeat of Joe Schmidt's Wallabies. Fiji's Australian coach Mick Byrne has brought a strong squad for Sunday's test in Newcastle, the hosts' last warmup before the Lions' series-opener on July 19. The stakes are high for the Wallabies, who lost seven out of 13 tests last season and can ill-afford to stumble against opponents that stunned them at the 2023 World Cup. However, the season-opener is also important for the Pacific Islanders, who insist they now rank among the elite "Tier One" nations that once ignored them between World Cups. Times have changed. Since humbling the Wallabies 22-15 in Saint-Etienne at the World Cup in France, a defeat ranked among Australia's darkest days in rugby, Fiji have had no shortage of top tier competition. Scotland, Wales and Ireland all hosted them last autumn, while New Zealand played them in the United States. Fiji will face Scotland at home a week after taking on the Wallabies, with glamour matches to come in November against England, at Twickenham, and France. Byrne, who took over from Simon Raiwalui after the World Cup, will want concrete gains in his second season in charge ahead of the inaugural Nations Championship next year, which Fiji are expected to be a part of. While dominating Japan and other Pacific rivals, Fiji's sole win against the top tier sides last season was a 24-19 win against struggling Wales in Cardiff. Fiji's thrilling running game has otherwise been no match for the big dogs' forward power and set-piece discipline. Not that Fiji will ditch their natural style, said Byrne. "We need to grow our game. We need to continue to grow without losing what our players do naturally," he told reporters on Tuesday. "Sixty-percent of the game is played quite clinically and 40 per cent of the game is played quite open. "When it comes to the 40 per cent, we're some of the best players in the world when the game opens up through turnovers and kick-returns, etc. "The other 60 per cent of the game, we're working really hard in maintaining good, strong discipline. "There's a lot of people talk about whether we're going to lose our Fijian way. We never lose our Fijian way." If anything, the bonds are only growing stronger due to Fijian Drua, the nation's first professional team who just completed their fourth season in Super Rugby with Australian and New Zealand opponents. More than a third of Byrne's 32-man squad are Drua players, making integration and combination-building easier. Australia's squad includes only one overseas-based player in lock Will Skelton, and the hosts have had more time to prepare than the Fijians, whose last win in Australia was in 1954. The Wallabies reviewed footage of the Saint-Etienne debacle as part of their preparations for Sunday. Both teams have moved on since then with different coaches but the Fijians believe they can produce a sequel to the Wallabies' World Cup horror show. "I told the boys, we've done it once, so surely we can do it again," said loose forward Bill Mata.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
England set to face Fiji, South Africa and Argentina in inaugural Nations Championship matches
England are set to begin their inaugural Nations Championship campaign in just over a year's time by playing Fiji – potentially in Europe – as well as away matches against the back-to-back world champions South Africa and Argentina, the Guardian understands. The 12-team competition, which will be held every two years and replaces traditional tours, is set to break new ground next year in the northern hemisphere summer and while the fixture list is yet to be announced, the Guardian has learned current proposals put England in line to face the Springboks in South Africa for the first time since 2018. A return to Argentina – where Steve Borthwick's side will face two Tests this summer – is also on the cards. Advertisement Related: Qatar Airways agrees £80m sponsorship deal for rugby union's Nations Championship As per tournament protocols, England's proposed match with Fiji would take place in either South Africa or Argentina but it is understood the Pacific Islanders would want the fixture to take place in Europe, mostly likely France where a substantial portion of their squad is based. Should that materialise, it is expected England would play Fiji first before travelling to South Africa and Argentina. The format of the competition sees the 12 teams split into two conferences - the Six Nations in one and the four Sanzaar countries and two others, expected to be Japan and Fiji, in another. The Sanzaar conference is effectively split into two blocks and the lowest ranked team in each play on neutral territory in an effort to minimise travel. Rather than play in either South Africa or Argentina, however, Fiji are hoping to host England in France while Twickenham has also been mooted as a possible venue. The Six Nations conference is also split into two blocks so two other nations are set to have the same fixtures as England next summer while the other three would face Australia, Japan and New Zealand. The Six Nations countries then host the three nations they have not yet played the following autumn, meaning England would welcome Australia, Japan and New Zealand to Twickenham in the autumn of 2026. Results from summer and autumn matches contributing to a final ranking. Advertisement On finals weekend, the top teams in each conference will meet each other, with second playing second, and so on, to determine the final rankings. The first grand final is set to be held at Twickenham while other stadiums in London are expected to be used for some of the other ranking matches. Previously the autumn Test window officially only allowed for nations to have access to their players for three weeks so as a trade-off, next year's Six Nations will be truncated to six weeks with one of the rest weeks removed. The Nations Championship is set to take place every two years, avoiding a clash with British & Irish Lions tours as well as the World Cup. The 2028 finals weekend is set to be held in the Middle East and the United States is the frontrunner to stage the 2030 edition, a year before hosting the World Cup. The Nations Championship will be run by the Six Nations and Sanzaar with World Rugby overseeing a tier two competition. Promotion to tier one is not due to happen until 2032 at the earliest, however. Negotiations over a lucrative broadcast deal that would encompass both summer and autumn fixtures are said to be at an advanced stage with TNT Sports considered the frontrunners after a successful first autumn campaign last year.
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
England set to face Fiji, South Africa and Argentina in inaugural Nations Championship matches
England are set to begin their inaugural Nations Championship campaign in just over a year's time by playing Fiji – potentially in Europe – as well as away matches against the back-to-back world champions South Africa and Argentina, the Guardian understands. The 12-team competition, which will be held every two years and replaces traditional tours, is set to break new ground next year in the northern hemisphere summer and while the fixture list is yet to be announced, the Guardian has learned current proposals put England in line to face the Springboks in South Africa for the first time since 2018. A return to Argentina – where Steve Borthwick's side will face two Tests this summer – is also on the cards. As per tournament protocols, England's proposed match with Fiji would take place in either South Africa or Argentina but it is understood the Pacific Islanders would want the fixture to take place in Europe, mostly likely France where a substantial portion of their squad is based. Should that materialise, it is expected England would play Fiji first before travelling to South Africa and Argentina. The format of the competition sees the 12 teams split into two conferences - the Six Nations in one and the four Sanzaar countries and two others, expected to be Japan and Fiji, in another. The Sanzaar conference is effectively split into two blocks and the lowest ranked team in each play on neutral territory in an effort to minimise travel. Rather than play in either South Africa or Argentina, however, Fiji are hoping to host England in France while Twickenham has also been mooted as a possible venue. The Six Nations conference is also split into two blocks so two other nations are set to have the same fixtures as England next summer while the other three would face Australia, Japan and New Zealand. The Six Nations countries then host the three nations they have not yet played the following autumn, meaning England would welcome Australia, Japan and New Zealand to Twickenham in the autumn of 2026. Results from summer and autumn matches contributing to a final ranking. On finals weekend, the top teams in each conference will meet each other, with second playing second, and so on, to determine the final rankings. The first grand final is set to be held at Twickenham while other stadiums in London are expected to be used for some of the other ranking matches. Previously the autumn Test window officially only allowed for nations to have access to their players for three weeks so as a trade-off, next year's Six Nations will be truncated to six weeks with one of the rest weeks removed. The Nations Championship is set to take place every two years, avoiding a clash with British & Irish Lions tours as well as the World Cup. The 2028 finals weekend is set to be held in the Middle East and the United States is the frontrunner to stage the 2030 edition, a year before hosting the World Cup. The Nations Championship will be run by the Six Nations and Sanzaar with World Rugby overseeing a tier two competition. Promotion to tier one is not due to happen until 2032 at the earliest, however. Negotiations over a lucrative broadcast deal that would encompass both summer and autumn fixtures are said to be at an advanced stage with TNT Sports considered the frontrunners after a successful first autumn campaign last year.
The Guardian
09-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Bonuses for Wallabies wins in Rugby Australia's new $240m TV broadcast deal
Rugby Australia has signed a five-year extension to its broadcast rights agreement with Nine Entertainment in a deal worth up to $240m. It runs from 2026-2030 and includes performance incentives linked to Wallabies wins, Nine-owned newspapers reported. '[It] represents a significant uplift on Rugby Australia's current broadcast agreement and follows a successful organisational reset in 2024,' RA said in a statement. Nine has broadcast Wallabies Tests and Super Rugby across its free-to-air platform and subscription streaming service Stan since 2020 when they picked up the rights for a discount during Covid-19 in a three-year deal worth about $100m. The media group signed a two-year extension in 2023. The new deal covers Wallabies and Wallaroos matches through to 2030, including Tests in the men's Nations Championship which will kick off next year. 'The future of Australian rugby is bright and our growth trajectory is strong,' RA chief executive Phil Waugh said. 'This deal from 2026 through 2030 will ensure Australian Rugby is well supported from the grassroots through to the international level for men and women, boys and girls.' The deal includes a range of incentives related to the performance of teams, including a potential multi-million dollar cash bonus if the underperforming Wallabies win more matches, Nine-owned newspaper Australian Financial Review reported. The Wallabies, ranked eighth in the world, won six out of 13 Tests in coach Joe Schmidt's first year in charge in 2024, after winning two out of nine under Eddie Jones in 2023. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion All Super Rugby Pacific matches will be taken behind Stan's paywall in a change from the current arrangement which has one match shown on free-to-air TV per round. The deal also includes matches in state club competitions, the Shute Shield and Hospital Cup, for die-hard fans.
