Welsh Rugby Union - Wales fixtures confirmed for inaugural Nations Championship

Wales Men’s fixtures for the inaugural 2026 Nations Championship have been confirmed.

Steve Tandy’s squad will face Fiji, Argentina and South Africa on consecutive weekends in July 2026 before taking on Japan, New Zealand and Australia at Principality Stadium in November the same year.

The Nations Championship is the new international rugby tournament that transforms the existing July and November windows into a competitive cross hemisphere format every two years, outside a Rugby World Cup and British & Irish Lions tour year.

Twelve nations will form two groups of six teams. The Six Nations teams will form a European group representing the Northern Hemisphere and take on the SANZAAR nations of South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina plus Japan and Fiji, who form a group nominally representing the Southern Hemisphere.

Next July, the Northern Hemisphere group of teams will travel to play three rounds of fixtures, with every team playing a different rival from the opposing Hemisphere group.

In November next year, the Southern Hemisphere group will then travel north for the remaining three rounds. Points are on offer across the July and November windows to then dictate the table standings per Hemisphere group and inform the schedule of fixtures for the Nations Championship Finals Weekend.

Allianz Stadium, Twickenham will host the first ever finals weekend from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November 2026. During finals weekend there will be six fixtures spread across three days of double headers.

The first ranked team in the Northern Hemisphere group will play the first ranked team in the Southern Hemisphere group to be crowned champions. Teams will also be competing to earn points for their group to decide the winning Hemisphere in the sport that year.

Venues, KO times and broadcast coverage per Nations Championship fixture across July and November will be announced in due course.

Wales’ Nations Championship fixtures