EXPLAINED: Why there won't be a Rugby Championship in 2026, 2028 or 2030

Wednesday, 13 August 2025 at 16:07

byTom Sansom

The 2025 Rugby Championship commences this weekend, however Springboks, All Blacks, Wallabies and Pumas fans will need to savour the tournament while it still lasts. The competition will step aside in 2026, 2028 and 2030, to usher in a new era for southern hemisphere rugby.

Under the new structure, even-numbered years will be given over to the newly created Nations Championship, a 12-team competition featuring the Six Nations sides in one conference and the four SANZAAR nations plus two invited teams, likely Japan and Fiji, in the other. Played across the July and November Test windows, it will culminate in a grand final, leaving no room for a full-scale Rugby Championship in those even numbered years.

Adding to the shake-up, New Zealand and South Africa have struck a touring deal that will see the All Blacks head to South Africa in 2026 for a multi-week, three-Test series with potential mid-week provincial matches, with the Springboks returning the favour with a tour of New Zealand in 2030. South African Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer has indicated that in those tour years the Rugby Championship will either shrink to a single round or be replaced by one-off Tests.

For Australia and Argentina, the absence of the Rugby Championship in even years means finding alternative fixtures. Rugby Australia is already planning a packed 2026 schedule, including as many as seven home Tests and a continuation of the Bledisloe Cup (against New Zealand), alongside their Nations Championship commitments. Argentina will also take part in the Nations Championship but will lose a key competitive and commercial platform, potentially replacing it with standalone matches against their SANZAAR rivals.

The changes are driven by a combination of commercial ambition, player welfare, time zone and jet lag hassles and a desire to revive the romance of traditional tours. The Nations Championship offers a globally marketable competition that can be neatly sold to broadcasters, while the tours themselves are premium events steeped in rugby history.

A fixed calendar also provides certainty for unions, players, and clubs, reducing clashes and travel fatigue. While some fans will lament the absence of an annual Rugby Championship, the trade-off is a more varied calendar with blockbuster events that could capture audiences in new ways. In odd-numbered years such as 2025, 2027, and 2029, the Rugby Championship will return in its more familiar form, though adjustments will still be made around Rugby World Cups and Lions tours.

Ultimately, this is not the death of the Rugby Championship but a reshaping of international rugby’s rhythm, one designed to create bigger moments, even if they do come about less often.

Key Details

Why it’s happening:

Even-numbered years now belong to the Nations Championship (from 2026).
New Zealand and South Africa have agreed to traditional three-Test tours in 2026 and 2030.

Impact on each team:

NZ & SA: Focus on tours plus Nations Championship games in those years.
Australia: Plans for seven home Tests in 2026; still plays Bledisloe Cup.
Argentina: Loses TRC exposure but will play in Nations Championship and possibly one-off Tests.

Timeline: