Autumn Nations Cup
Here’s the lowdown on the Autumn Nations Cup kicking of f in Europe nex t month
THE PANDEMIC may have put paid to the traditional November Internationals but there is still a feast of Test rugby to come this autumn. Following the conclusion of the Six Nations at the end of this month, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales will join Fiji and Georgia in competing in the Autumn Nations Cup over four successive weekends in November and December.
The eight teams taking part will be split into two pools of four, with three rounds of group matches followed by a ‘finals weekend’ where countries will play against the side ranked in the same position in the other pool – 1st v 1st, 2nd v 2nd and so on.
Group A features England, Georgia, Ireland and Wales while Group B has Fiji, France, Italy and Scotland. The action kicks off at the Aviva Stadium on Friday 13 November, when Ireland play host to Wales.
Amazon Prime Video has the rights to broadcast the tournament in the UK – a first for the streaming service – and will show every game live, except Ireland’s matches against Wales and Georgia.
Channel 4 will show three matches live on free-to-air TV – Ireland v Wales, England v Ireland and Ireland v Georgia – while RTÉ have the rights for all of Ireland’s matches and S4C will show
Wales’ Autumn Nations Cup ties.
Wales will play their opening home fixture against Georgia at Parc y Scarlets – the Principality Stadium is being used as the Dragon’s Heart Hospital – and coach Wayne Pivac is excited about having
Test rugby back on the agenda.
“It has been a tough year for everyone, so we are hoping international rugby can provide some relief and enjoyment for supporters and sports fans,” he said.
The tournament will be Vern Cotter’s first as Fiji head coach and he has brought together an experienced back-room team. Former All Black Daryl Gibson, ex-Test referee Glen Jackson and breakdown specialist Richie Gray form part of his coaching team.
John O’Connor, CEO of the Fiji rugby union, is delighted the islanders have been included in the Autumn Nations Cup, saying: “It will be a challenge but we’ve been crying over (wanting) more Test matches against Tier One for so long. This is an opportunity for us now to show we can be competitive.”
Georgia believe the Tests will provide valuable learnings, with coach Levan Maisashvili saying: “If we win a game it would be magnificent, of course. But our goal is to show our best qualities and to gain the maximum experience.”
These aren’t the autumn Internationals as we know them, but they should be compelling nonetheless.