Southern Hemisphere international rugby has been turned upside down by the announcement that the Rugby Championship (the Six Nations equivalent) will not be played in 2026.
The organiser of the Championship, Sanzaar, has confirmed that the tournament will not be played next year in order to make space for New Zealand to tour world champions South Africa and play a four-test series. That series is being billed as “the Greatest Rivalry”, pitting two of the heavyweights of international rugby against each other.
Presumably the decision is mainly a commercial one, with the All Blacks and South Africa looking at the vast profits made from this year’s Lions series in Australia and wanting to get their own slice of the pie (without waiting for the 12-year Lions cycle to come back to them).
But what does this decision mean for the Rugby Championship? The competition was originally established in 1996, initially under the name Tri Nations, and became the Rugby Championship in 2012 when Argentina joined the competition alongside New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. Usually played between August and October, it has become a popular and competitive competition, and is credited with improving Argentinian rugby in particular, to make the Pumas a force to be reckoned with on the world stage.
Sanzaar has confirmed that the Rugby Championship will return in 2027, but in an earlier July/August slot before the World Cup in Australia (a decision that has raised eyebrows in Northern Hemisphere camps as they believe this will give the four nations a distinct advantage heading into the World Cup). The competition will then be played in 2028 and 2029 before pausing again in 2030, no doubt for another money-making series between the Springboks and All Blacks.
Despite being more successful in World Cups, the Southern Hemisphere teams have always looked enviously at the Six Nations competition, with its historic local rivalries, traditions and sold-out stadiums. The Rugby Championship was touted as the Southern Hemisphere’s answer to the Six Nations, as a way of having an annual contest between four major rugby nations, and developing a sense of the same rivalries and traditions. It will always be hampered in trying to emulate the Six Nations by the different timezones and distance between the countries, making it harder for opposition fans to travel and also harder for TV schedules. But the Rugby Championship had developed into a popular, closely contested competition, especially with the improvement of Argentina in recent years, and the news of it not being played next year has gone down badly in many places.
Gabriel Travaglini, President of the UAR (Union Argentina de Rugby) reacted to the news diplomatically, but with a clear message, saying: “we believe it is important to continue working to ensure that rugby in the southern hemisphere maintains a fair balance between competition, player recovery, and the development of all the nations involved.”
It does go back to the old adage, that if it’s not broken don’t try to fix it. In the pursuit of their own financial gains, are South Africa and New Zealand actually diminishing rugby in their own backyard and, in the long run, create disparities in teams that will lead to future versions of the tournament becoming more uncompetitive, and in consequence, less appealing to fans and broadcasters?
This decision is the equivalent of the Six Nations being paused for a year to enable England and France to play a series against each other – and we know how well that would go down in the valleys and the highlands!
David Little is a Partner at Bishop & Sewell in our expert Sports Law and Corporate & Commercial
If you would like to contact him, please call on either 07968 027343 or 020 7631 4141 or email: company@
The above is accurate as at 23 October 2025.
The information above may be subject to change. The content of this note should not be considered legal advice, and each matter should be considered on a case-by-case basis.
