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Nations Championship fixtures, results & standings
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The second round of the Nations Championship games brought more high-scoring matches and drama.
Scotland ran South Africa close in a 10-try thriller in Pretoria, Henry Pollock scored a hat-trick as England thrashed Fiji in Liverpool, while Ireland secured a bonus-point win over Japan.
Will Jordan became New Zealand’s record try-scorer with a hat-trick in his side’s hammering of Italy and France showed their class to ease past Australia.
Argentina made three wins for each hemisphere by beating Wales 35-21 in San Juan.
What is the Nations Championship? Who is winning? And when is next round of fixtures?
Standings
What is the Nations Championship?
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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.
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Summer fixtures & results
Saturday, 6 July
Japan 27-10 Italy
Saturday, 11 July
Argentina 35-21 Wales
Saturday, 18 July
New Zealand v Ireland (08:10 BST)
Japan v France (09:40 BST)
Australia v Italy (11:10 BST)
Fiji v Scotland (14:10 BST)
South Africa v Wales (16:40 BST)
Argentina v England (20:10 BST)
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Autumn fixtures
Friday, 6 November
Ireland v Argentina (20:10 GMT)
Saturday, 7 November
Italy v South Africa (11:40 GMT)
Scotland v New Zealand (14:10 GMT)
Wales v Japan (16:40 GMT)
France v Fiji (20:10 GMT)
Sunday, 8 November
England v Australia (15:10 GMT)
Friday, 13 November
France v South Africa (20:10 GMT)
Saturday, 14 November
Italy v Argentina (11:40 GMT)
Wales v New Zealand (14:10 GMT)
England v Japan (16:40 GMT)
Ireland v Fiji (20:10 GMT)
Sunday, 15 November
Scotland v Australia (15:10 GMT)
Saturday, 21 November
England v New Zealand (14:10 GMT)
Scotland v Japan (14:10 GMT)
Ireland v South Africa (16:40 GMT)
Italy v Fiji (16:40 GMT)
France v Argentina (20:10 GMT)
Wales v Australia (20:10 GMT)
Friday, 27 November (Finals Weekend)
27 November
Sixth-place North v Sixth-place South (16:40 GMT)
Third-place North v Third-place South (20:10 GMT)
28 November
Fifth-place North v Fifth-place South (13:10 GMT)
Second-place North v Second-place South (16:40 GMT)
29 November
Fourth-place North v Fourth-place South (13:10 GMT)
First-place North v First-place South (16:40 GMT)
