The age-old debate over which hemisphere rules rugby will be answered next year, with Test nations from the north and south to compete as a team in a Ryder Cup-style finale to the new Nations Cup tournament in London.
The Nations Cup is set to commence next year, after numerous failed attempts gave way to agreement on the concept in late 2023. The tournament, which is designed to make each Test match in the July and November windows “meaningful”, will see the Six Nations sides (France, England, Wales, Scotland, Italy and Ireland) play a Test each against the Rugby Championship sides (Wallabies, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina) plus invitees Japan and Fiji.
The two pools of six will accumulate points throughout the year and the top-ranked sides of the two conferences will meet in the final on the last weekend of November.
The conferences will be called “Europe” and “Rest of the World”, due to Japan being in the northern hemisphere and to allow for a nation like the USA to one day progress up from the second division tournament, which will run concurrently. A promotion-relegation system will begin in 2030.
But there is a still strong north vs south sentiment to the Nations Cup, and fans and players in both parts of the world have long debated which plays a superior style; fast and open on the dry tracks in the south, or the power-based, set-piece style in the north.
Though Home Unions once ruled, the Southern Hemisphere has been dominant since the Rugby World Cup began in 1987, winning nine of the ten tournaments.
Could the Wallabies and England compete in the Nations Cup final?Credit: Getty Images
Organisers of the Nations Cup, which is a joint venture between the Six Nations and SANZAAR, are leaning into that rivalry with their plans for the finals weekend, where hemispheric bragging rights will be up for grabs for the first time.
Along with the top-ranked sides from the Europe and Rest of World conferences meeting in the main final, the rest of the teams in both conferences (based on respective rankings) will also go head-to-head in five other Tests, according to informed sources who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of discussions.
Points will be earned for each final victory, and a winning hemisphere/conference will be crowned based on the best combined points tally. It is unknown if the points system will be weighted according to the status of the final, but it is foreseeable the 1st v 1st final would count more than the 6th v 6th final, for example.
The six Tests would be played over the last weekend of the November window – potentially across three days – either in a series of double-headers at Twickenham or shared across other venues. The contentious prospect of a finals weekend being held in Qatar is still on the table, but for later editions in 2028 or 2030.
South Africa have won the last two World Cups.Credit: AP
The organisers’ belief is that the Ryder Cup-style teams competition will give fans from both conferences a reason to remain engaged in all the finals, and, with bragging rights up for grabs, provide the rare chance for usually fierce rivals to support each other’s team.
The financial upsides of each nation playing in a lower-ranked final, via revenue from broadcast deals and ticket, would be the most significant motivator for most unions.
