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London, UK \u2014 <\/b>The new international rugby calendar will take a major step forward in July as the Nations Championship begins with its highly anticipated Southern Series. Twelve of the world\u2019s strongest rugby nations will compete across three consecutive weekends in a tournament designed to reshape the global game.<\/p>\n
The opening fixture will be staged at One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch, marking the first international match at the newly built venue. The tournament will begin with a blockbuster clash between the All Blacks and France, renewing one of rugby\u2019s fiercest intercontinental rivalries.<\/p>\n
The Southern Series will take elite rugby to some of the sport\u2019s most iconic stadiums. Fixtures are scheduled at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Eden Park in Auckland and the National Stadium in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
The tournament will also travel to neutral venues in the United Kingdom, including the newly built Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool. Buenos Aires, London and Tokyo are among the key cities set to host major matchups during the opening phase.<\/p>\n
Neutral venues in the UK will stage Fiji\u2019s home fixtures, while Japan will host Ireland at a Southern Hemisphere neutral venue. The scheduling has been structured to improve global fan access while managing travel and logistics for competing teams.<\/p>\n
The 12 participating nations are divided into two groups of six teams, representing the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Each team will play six cross-hemisphere fixtures during the year, with three matches in July and three in November.<\/p>\n
Points accumulated across both series will determine the standings within each hemisphere group. These standings will then shape the matchups for the Nations Championship Finals Weekend in London.<\/p>\n
The tournament will conclude with a newly introduced Finals Weekend at Allianz Stadium in London. Over three days, double-header fixtures will decide final rankings and ultimately crown the first Nations Championship winner.<\/p>\n
The top-ranked team from the Northern Hemisphere group will face the top-ranked Southern Hemisphere side to determine the inaugural champion. In addition, overall points earned by teams will decide which hemisphere is declared the strongest in 2026.<\/p>\n
Ticket sales for the Finals Weekend are scheduled to begin with a pre-sale window on 25 February, followed by general sale on 11 March, offering fans access across all three days of competition.<\/p>\n
With elite venues confirmed and the schedule locked in, the Nations Championship is set to deliver a new era of international rugby competition beginning this July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Twelve of the world\u2019s strongest rugby nations will compete across three consecutive weekends in a tournament designed to reshape the global game. The opening fixture will be staged…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10957,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10955\/revisions\/10957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}