Why rugby’s Nations Championship is a step up from friendly Test matches

The Nations Championship gives status and street credit to the July and November internationals. People once mocked the concept of a Rugby World Cup, until it was formalised. The Nations Championship, with a league points system and end goal, will develop into a title the very best will want to win.

The schedule is no different to how it has always been, but what has changed is that there is something tangible to play for at the end of the two international months that bookend the start and end of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere rugby seasons.

I am a fan of the concept that each Test match in July and November has a points allocation, and that in the final week of November the No 1 team of the northern hemisphere plays the No 1 team of the Southern Hemisphere to determine who is the annual King of the Hemispheres.

It is not the World Cup and it is not the Six Nations or the Rugby Championship. It is something that has always been there; only now there is a prize to the two months.

Teams from both hemispheres have been guilty of treating the July and November months as an afterthought because of the demands of the Six Nations, Rugby Championship and all the respective club competitions, but the league points system will turn this annual two months of fixtures into something similar to cricket’s Test World Championship.

To get a true gage of who gets to be crowned, the league structure hopefully will evolve to a two-year cycle, as this will allow for a home and away concept against all the teams. In this guise, it can be balanced in playing home and away among all competing teams.

I don’t see it having quite the impact as an annual competition as the schedule and fixture list will determine so much.

Over two years, the schedule has balance of home and away.

For now it is a start, whereas there never was one.

Just how seriously coaches take the first season, a year out from the 2027 World Cup, is justified in terms of criticism, but as with anything in sport, something needs to start and be played to mature. Think T20 cricket. It was mocked as hit and giggle. Now it is the biggest commercial asset in cricket and attracts the biggest global audience.

The world champion Springboks host England on the opening weekend on the 4th July, Australia plays Ireland and the All Blacks take on France.

Those three Test matches alone are worthy of the biggest Rugby World Cup play-off weekends.

Get excited about the Nations Championship, if not necessarily in 2026, then definitely in 2028 and beyond.

The 12 July Nations Championship Squads

Springboks

Forwards

Thomas du Toit, Wilco Louw, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Ox Nche, Zachary Porthen, Carlu Sadie, Gerhard Steenekamp, Boan Venter, Johan Grobbelaar, Malcolm Marx, Andre-Hugo Venter, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Ruan Nortje, Ruben van Heerden, Paul de Villiers, Ben-Jason Dixon, Cameron Hanekom, Siya Kolisi, Evan Roos, Vincent Tshituka, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Franco Mostert, Riley Norton, Marco van Staden, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Cobus Wiese.

Backs

Embrose Papier, Herschel Jantjies, Cobus Reinach, Grant Williams, Manie Libbok, Vusi Moyo, Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, Lukhanyo Am, Andre Esterhuizen, Canan Moodie, Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Aphelele Fassi, Edwill van der Merwe, Willie le Roux, Jaco Williams.

All Blacks

Forwards

Asafo Aumua, Codie Taylor, Samisoni Taukei’aho, Ethan de Groot, George Bower, Xavier Numia, Tyrel Lomax, Fletcher Newell, Pasilio Tosi, Tupou Vaa’i, Patrick Tuipulotu, Josh Lord, Sam Darry, Peter Lakai, Simon Parker, Ardie Savea, Wallace Sititi, Luke Jacobson, Anton Segner.

Backs

Cameron Roigard, Cortez Ratima, Kyle Preston, Ruben Love, Beauden Barrett, Damian McKenzie, Jordie Barrett, Quinn Tupaea, Billy Proctor, Anton Lienert-Brown, Caleb Clarke, Fehi Fineanganofo, Leroy Carter, Josh Moorby, Will Jordan.

Ireland

Forwards

Tadhg Beirne, Billy Bohan, Thomas Clarkson, Jack Conan, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong, Sam Illo, Cormac Izuchukwu, Sean Jansen, Rónan Kelleher, Jeremy Loughman, Joe McCarthy, Darragh Murray, Tom O’Toole, Cian Prendergast, James Ryan, Dan Sheehan, Tom Stewart, Nick Timoney, Josh van der Flier.

Backs

Bundee Aki, Rob Baloucoune, Harry Byrne, Craig Casey, Nathan Doak, Ciaran Frawley, Jamison Gibson-Park, Robbie Henshaw, Hugo Keenan, Stuart McCloskey, Jimmy O’Brien, Tommy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Sam Prendergast, Garry Ringrose, Jacob Stockdale.

Scotland

Forwards

Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Magnus Bradbury, Gregor Brown, Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey, Freddy Douglas, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Jonny Gray, Gregor Hiddleston, Will Hurd, Nathan McBeth, Liam McConnell, Elliot Millar Mills, D’arcy Rae, Alex Samuel, Pierre Schoeman, Seb Stephen, Rory Sutherland, Max Williamson.

Backs

Fergus Burke, Jamie Dobie, Darcy Graham, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Tom Jordan, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Rowe, Finn Russell, Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White.

Wallabies

Forwards

Allan Alaalatoa, Miles Amatosero, Angus Bell, Charlie Cale, Josh Canham, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Tom Hooper, Fraser McReight, Josh Nasser, Zane Nonggorr, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Billy Pollard, Aidan Ross, Lachlan Shaw, James Slipper, Carlo Tizzano, Taniela Tupou, Rob Valetini, Jeremy Williams, Harry Wilson.

Backs

Jock Campbell, Filipo Daugunu, Ben Donaldson, Josh Flook, Carter Gordon, Len Ikitau, Max Jorgensen, Ryan Lonergan, Tate McDermott, Declan Meredith, Hunter Paisami, Dylan Pietsch, Harry Potter, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Kalani Thomas, Corey Toole, Tom Wright.

Japan

Forwards

Sojiro Otsuka, Takato Okabe, Yota Kamimori, Hayate Era, Kenji Sato, Mamoru Harada, Izi Sword, Shuhei Takeuchi, Keijiro Tamefusa, Jack Cornelsen, Michael Stolberg, Warner Dearns, Harry Hockings, Ben Gunter, Tiennan Costley, Kanji Shimokawa, Waisake Raratubua, Esei Haangana, Michael Leitch.

Backs

Itsuki Kamimura, Naoto Saito, Takuro Hojo, Haruto Watanabe, Ryunosuke Ito, Shinya Komura, Samisoni Tua, Shogo Nakano, Yuya Hirose, Dylan Riley, Kippei Ishida, Kazuma Ueda, Haruto Kida, Inoke Burua, Shunsuke Uenobo, Takuro Matsunaga.

England

Forwards

Ollie Chessum, Arthur Clark, Alex Coles, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Tom Curry, Theo Dan, Ben Earl, Charlie Ewels, Greg Fisilau, Ellis Genge, Jamie George (captain), Joe Heyes, Ted Hill, George Kloska, George Martin, Beno Obano, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Guy Pepper, Henry Pollock, Vilikesa Sela.

Backs

Seb Atkinson, Noah Caluori, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, George Ford, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Alex Mitchell, Cadan Murley, Max Ojomoh, Henry Slade, Fin Smith, Marcus Smith, Ben Spencer, Freddie Steward, Jack van Poortvliet.

France

Forwards

Moses Alo-Emile, Hugo Auradou, Demba Bamba, Pierre Bochaton, Esteban Capilla, Sipili Falatea, Marko Gazzotti, Mickael Guillard, Oscar Jegou, Maxime Lamothe, Barnabé Massa, Temo Matiu, Regis Montagne, Boris Palu, Jefferson Poirot, Tom Staniforth, Tevita Tatafu, Killian Tixeront, Reda Wardi.

Backs

Theo Attissogbe, Fabien Brau-Boirie, Nicolas Depoortere, Mathis Ferté, Théo Forner, Émilien Gailleton, Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, Antoine Hastoy, Matthieu Jalibert, Nolann Le Garrec, Maxime Lucu, Yoram Moefana, Damian Penaud, Max Spring.

Italy

Forwards

Lorenzo Cannone, Niccolò Cannone, Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, Pablo Dimcheff, Riccardo Favretto, Danilo Fischetti, Muhamed Hasa, Michele Lamaro, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Giulio Marini, Ion Neculai, David Odiase, Alessandro Ortombina, Marco Riccioni, Federico Ruzza, Mirco Spagnolo, Ross Vintcent, Andrea Zambonin.

Backs

Tommaso Allan, Giulio Bertaccini, Juan Ignacio Brex, Giacomo Da Re, Malik Faissal, Alessandro Fusco, Alessandro Garbisi, Paolo Garbisi, Monty Ioane, Louis Lynagh, Leonardo Marin, Tommaso Menoncello, Paolo Odogwu, Lorenzo Pani, Stephen Varney.

Wales

Extended squad to be trimmed after the Barbarians fixture.

Forwards

Keiron Assiratti, Rhys Barratt, Adam Beard, Liam Belcher, James Botham, Rhys Carre, Ben Carter, Olly Cracknell, Ryan Elias, Kane James, Dafydd Jenkins, Harrison Keddie, Dewi Lake, Dillon Lewis, Evan Lloyd, Alex Mann, Jac Morgan, Taine Plumtree, Tommy Reffell, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Freddie Thomas, Aaron Wainwright, Sam Wainwright, Ben Warren, Teddy Williams, Ryan Woodman.

Backs

Josh Adams, Ellis Bevan, Bryn Bradley, Sam Costelow, Dan Edwards, Jarrod Evans, Mason Grady, Kieran Hardy, Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Joe Hawkins, Louie Hennessey, Eddie James, Max Llewellyn, Ellis Mee, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Blair Murray, Louis Rees-Zammit, Joe Roberts, Tom Rogers, Ben Thomas, Tomos Williams.

Fiji

Forwards

Tevita Ikanivere, Sam Matavesi, Zuriel Togiatama, Eroni Mawi, Atunaisa Sokobale, Peni Ravai, Luke Tagi, Tim Hoyt, Isoa Nasilasila, Mesake Vocevoce, Temo Mayanavanua, Tevita Ratuva, Lekima Tagitagivalu, Kitione Salawa, Elia Canakaivata, Levani Botia, Pita-Gus Sowakula, Peceli Yato.

Backs

Frank Lomani, Simione Kuruvoli, Sam Wye, Caleb Muntz, Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula, Josua Tuisova, Filimoni Botitu, Selestino Ravutaumada, Semi Radradra, Jiuta Wainiqolo, Kalaveti Ravouvou, Vinaya Habosi, Salesi Rayasi, Vuate Karawalevu.

Pumas

Forwards

Mayco Vivas, Boris Wenger, Julián Montoya, Leonel Oviedo, Ignacio Ruiz, Francisco Coria Marchetti, Pedro Delgado, Tomás Rapetti, Franco Molina, Guido Petti, Matías Alemanno, Luciano Asevedo, Santiago Grondona, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Juan Penoucos, Joaquin Moro, Joaquin Oviedo.

Backs

Simón Benítez Cruz, Gonzalo García, Agustín Moyano, Tomás Albornoz, Gerónimo Prisciantelli, Nicolás Roger, Faustino Sánchez Valarolo, Lucio Cinti, Agustín Fraga, Matías Moroni, Mateo Carreras, Bautista Delguy, Rodrigo Isgró, Ignacio Mendy, Santiago Carreras, Mateo Soler.