XV de France: What is the new Nations Championship that Les Bleus will launch against the All Blacks?

France's national rugby team, Les Bleus, is set to inaugurate a new global competition, the Nations Championship, with their opening match against the All Blacks in New Zealand.

This new tournament, created by World Rugby, replaces the former traditional tours that saw Northern Hemisphere teams play in the Southern Hemisphere during the summer and vice versa in the autumn. While these previous test matches did not award a trophy, they contributed to the world rankings. The Nations Championship aims to provide a genuine competitive edge and a tangible prize.

The championship will feature a Top 12 global structure divided into two conferences. The first conference comprises the six nations of the Six Nations tournament: France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Italy. The second conference includes the four Rugby Championship nations – New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, and Australia – along with two invited nations, Japan and Fiji, for this inaugural edition.

Each nation will play each other once within their conference. Northern Hemisphere teams will face three different Southern Hemisphere opponents during the summer tour, followed by three new opponents from the South during the November internationals in Europe. The top-ranked team from each conference will then compete in a final match, with the championship title awarded to the best nation of the year. The final venue is set to be Twickenham, near London, on the last weekend of November 2026, and will be relocated to Qatar in 2028. France's schedule includes matches against New Zealand, Australia, and Japan in July, followed by games against Fiji, South Africa, and Argentina in November.

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I predict great success for this competition