The Nations Championship pits the northern hemisphere teams who compete in the Six Nations – England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy – against southern hemisphere giants South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, plus invited sides Fiji and Japan.
The geographically observant will note that Japan is actually about 2,500 miles north of the equator, so doesn’t sit in the southern hemisphere. But the sport is rolling with it.
Fiji are staging their home fixtures in the northern hemisphere to ease logistics and maximise revenue.
All teams will play each of the six in the opposing hemisphere once, with three rounds of fixtures staged in July and another three in November.
Their results will rank the teams within their own hemisphere, from one to six.
On the final weekend in November, there is a three-day play-off event staged at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham. The sixth-placed team in the northern hemisphere plays off against the equivalent in the southern hemisphere standings and so on, culminating in the two top-ranked sides taking each other on.
The winner of that final match is crowned the inaugural Nations Championship winner.
There is also a parallel, Ryder-Cup style hemisphere title. The winner of each of the matches on the play-offs weekend will earn one point for their hemisphere, except for the contest between the two top-ranked teams which delivers two.
The first hemisphere to earn four points over the weekend will be crowned winners.
