The Nations Championship, which begins in 2026, will see the annual world title contested between Six Nations nations, SANZAAR nations and two additional invited teams.
The movement will be reinforced between Rugby World Cups, but irregular, unofficial world title matches have been held since the creation of the modern professional calendar in 1996.
Six Nations champions and Rugby Championship (formerly Tri-Nations) champions have met in 11 of the 21 title matches between the hemispheres in November.
In the absence of a full-fledged Nations Championship, formalizing this one-off match would have been the ideal solution to determine the annual champion as a supplement to the Rugby World Cup.
The Champions Match between Champions in the sanctioned 'final' was supposed to be the most-watched rugby match of the year and add meaning to the calendar.
The November year-end tour began regularly in 1997, but it was not until 2000 that Six Nations winners England faced Tri-Nations winners Australia. England won this test match against Twickenham 22-19.
The two teams met again as hemisphere champions in 2001, with England winning yet another 21-15, giving them back-to-back wins over the Wallabies.
In 2002, Grand Slam champions France played Tri-Nations winners New Zealand in the November window, with both teams sharing a 20-all draw.
Due to the irregular schedule of the November international competition, the two tournament winners often do not play each other.
In 1998 and 2004, the Springboks were unable to face France, the winners in both years.
More recently, England's great teams of 2016 and 2017 did not play the All Blacks.
When the two teams met in 2018, England were no longer Europe's top team. The All Blacks faced that year's Grand Slam champions, Ireland, and won 18-9 with Jacob Stockdale's famous try.
South Africa, who have won the Rugby World Cup four times, have not won the title in the intervening years. Of the three Tri-Nations championships in 1998, 2004 and 2009, only one made it to the finals.
The 2009 Springbok side won the Lions series 2-1 and thrashed the All Blacks 3-0, but ultimately lost 15-10 to Ireland at Croke Park.
As the clock read red, Ireland scored the winning steal in the 22nd minute with a clutch tackle and counter ruck from Brian O'Driscoll as South Africa attacked. O'Driscoll lay on the grass and the players gathered around him. Had it been a world title match, this moment would have been remembered as iconic.
South Africa
Ireland
New Zealand have won six hemisphere titles and will share one of them. The last time they faced Wales was in 2021, with Beauden Barrett scoring a two-interception try in his 100th game in a 54-16 win.
France should have won their latest title in 2022 with a 40-26 victory over the All Blacks in Paris.
Overall, only four countries won. New Zealand 6 times (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2021), England (2000, 2001), Ireland (2009, 2018), France (2002, 2022) Twice.
In modern times, there is no reason why international rugby cannot have an annual champion. The world demands it. Back in the amateur days, there were long stretches of time between contests.
In the 1950s and 1960s, there was often a gap of four to five years between All Blacks and Springbok tests. Now it is held every year, and it is also what fans expect. It would be unthinkable for a five-year gap to continue for four years again.
The Nations Championship is the next logical step in finding the annual world champion. And once you're here, there's no going back. By comparison, the current system will seem outdated.
Let's start with two world title matches between the champions of both hemispheres in 2024 and 2025 as a prelude to the Nations Championship.
Every rugby fan on the planet will be watching it, and many more casual fans will be watching it too.
