We’ll let the Nations Championship’s official website explain.
The Nations Championship consists of two groups of teams competing in a Northern versus Southern Hemisphere tournament format across six rounds, with three fixtures in July and again in November, before culminating in the first of its kind finals weekend to decide the dominant nation and balance of power between the rugby hemispheres, every two years.
Got it?
The Southern Hemisphere teams are Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Fiji and Japan.
And in the Northern Hemisphere’s corner are England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.
The opening rounds, known as the Southern Series, will be contested across the following three weekends.
The Wallabies face Ireland in Sydney this evening, France in Brisbane (July 11) and Italy in Perth (July 18).
The Northern Series will be held between November 6-21.
The Wallabies play England at Twickenham (November 9 AEST), Scotland at Murrayfield (November 16) and Wales at Millennium Stadium (November 22).
Each match carries the following points breakdown:
- Four points for a win
- Two points for a draw
- Bonus points for four tries or losing by seven points or fewer
Twickenham will host the finals weekend across November 28-30 AEST.
The finals weekend will see the top-ranked teams in each hemisphere group face off to be crowned the Nations Championship winner.
Here’s how the first weekend of the tournament looks like (all times AEST):
Saturday:
- New Zealand vs France in Christchurch at 5:10pm
- Japan vs Italy in Tokyo at 6:40pm
- Australia vs Ireland in Sydney at 8:10pm
- Fiji vs Wales in Cardiff at 11:10pm
Sunday:
- South Africa vs England in Johannesburg at 1:40am
- Argentina vs Scotland in Córdoba at 5:10am
dan