World Rugby has radical plan for new global competition - report

Rugby bosses from around the globe are reportedly set to meet in Dublin on Tuesday to approve a groundbreaking new global competition.

According to a report in The Times, World Rugby wants respective rugby bosses to commit to the new competition by the end of the week, with a formal vote to be held in November.

The so-called "Nations Championship" would be held biennially in "even years" to avoid clashing with the Rugby World Cup and British & Irish Lions tours.

The reports states that a 12-team top division would likely start in 2026. It would consist of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy from the Six Nations, as well as southern hemisphere outfits South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Fiji and Japan.

The second division will feature Samoa, Tonga, USA, Canada, Uruguay, Chile, Namibia, Georgia, Romania, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.

According to the report, the emerging nations are already on board, having agreed to sacrifice annual fixtures against top-ranked teams in order to form the "Challenger Division" in 2024.

In the top division, each northern hemisphere team would play a southern hemisphere rival once, either home or away.

The Six Nations outfits would play their away games in July, before hosting the southern hemisphere teams in November.

After the six fixtures, the top two teams would meet in a grand final, while there would also be two relegation play-offs against leading teams from the second tier.

READ the full report on The Times website