Sir Bill Beaumont hails rugby’s ‘quantum leap forward’ – but excluded tier two nations fear for the future

• Chairman of the global governing body lauded the start of a ‘new era’ for rubgy
• Nations Championship will be built around Six Nations and Rugby Championship
• There was backlash and bleak forecasts about the outlook for ‘tier two’ teams

Sir Bill Beaumont hailed rugby’s new Nations Championship as a ‘quantum leap forward’, despite grave doubts about the benefits for all the emerging countries who will be locked out for years.

As first revealed by Mail Sport, a tense ballot of the World Rugby council led to 41 votes in favour, with just 10 votes against it — meaning the required 75 per cent majority was narrowly achieved.

Amid a furious backlash when the result emerged and bleak forecasts about the outlook for so-called ‘tier two’ teams, Beaumont, the chairman of the global governing body, said: ‘A new era is about to begin for our sport; that will bring certainty and opportunity for all. An era that will support the many, not the few. All boats will rise together.’

The buzzword was ‘compromise’ as a series of reforms were unveiled. As part of the overhaul of the men’s international game, the Six Nations window will be reduced from seven weeks to six, meaning a loss of precious rest time for players.

The new Nations Championship will be built around the Six Nations and Rugby Championship in the southern hemisphere, plus Japan and Fiji — although their inclusion has not been officially confirmed yet.

Sir Bill Beaumont hailed rugby’s new Nations Championship as a ‘quantum leap forward’

The league’s structure will be built around the existing Six Nations and Rugby Championship

Nations such as Georgia will initially be excluded from the new Nations Championship

Those in the European ‘conference’ will play each team in the rest-of-the-world ‘conference’ either away in July or at home in November, then there will be a grand final between the conference winners. It will be staged in alternate years, when there is no World Cup or Lions tour.

There will be no promotion and relegation until at least 2032, which World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin said ‘is better than the alternative, which is not to have that competition at all’.

He added: ‘What we say to Portugal, Chile and others who have had fantastic tournaments here, is this structure from 2026 will provide them with certain schedules, particularly against their peers.

‘The package agreed today also provides for more cross-over fixtures — what we used to call tier one versus tier two fixtures — in the years when this championship isn’t being played. There will be 50 per cent more guaranteed cross-over fixtures in those other years than is currently the case.’

Gilpin conceded that there were no formal plans in place yet for matches which will provide second-division sides with crucial encounters with leading nations.

‘No agreements have been signed,’ he said. ‘Principles have been agreed about how those fixtures could be allocated, but there’s a lot more work to do.’ 

World Rugby – fronted by CEO Alan Gilpin (above) – held a ballot which saw officials from the leading nations and regions vote 41 to 10 in favour of the brand new international competition

The Six Nations and Rugby Championship unions will commercially control the Nations Championship, leaving World Rugby to fund the second division — meaning additional revenue will not be shared around.

Those unions not part of the top tier of the new landscape must now wait to see what exactly the full picture will look like. Scepticism is rife.

In a recent interview with Mail Sport, the president of South American rugby, Sebastian Pineyrua, claimed that if voted in, the Nations Championship would signal ‘the death of rugby’.

In addition to announcing the ratification of the Nations Championship, there was also confirmation from World Rugby of a restructuring of the World Cup.

As first revealed by Mail Sport earlier this month, the next instalment of the global showpiece, in Australia in 2027, will feature 24 teams — with six pools of four, followed by a round of 16 before the quarter-finals. The change will allow for the competition to revert to a six-week window.

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