World Rugby Announces New Competition

World Rugby has announced a new competition as part of a reshaped calendar.

Described as part of a ‘significant overhaul’ to rugby union’s men’s international calendar, the new tournament will be made up of 24 teams, split into two divisions with 12 teams in each, with promotion and relegation starting from 2030.

Teams confirmed to be participating in the top division of the new global competition are the six which compete in the annual Six Nations tournament in Europe – England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy – as well as South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, who contest the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship.

The two unnamed others are most likely to be Fiji and Japan, currently ranked 10th and 12th in the world respectively.

The competition has yet to be given an official name but will be played in July and November, replacing the current summer and autumn international windows.

It will take place in alternate years, excluding those which include the World Cup and British and Irish Lions tours.

The latest announcements also reveal that the World Cup will be expanded to 24 teams from 2027.

Although there will be four additional nations taking part in Australia and a round of 16 will be created, the adjustments mean the next World Cup will last six weeks rather than seven, while the draw will be made in January 2026.

The 2023 pools were drawn in December 2020 and seedings based on world rankings from the start of that year, as some sides had not played during 2020 because of the Covid pandemic.

However, the top five ranked nations by the start of the event were situated in one half of the draw and three of those top five – Ireland, South Africa and Scotland – were all in the same pool.

The future changes have been announced four days before the winners of the Rugby World Cup will be crowned, with New Zealand facing South Africa in the final in Paris on Saturday.

Meanwhile, reforms to the women’s game mean there will be no overlap between international and club fixtures for the first time from 2026.