World Rugby to launch new international competition from 2026

Sign up to our free sport newsletter for all the latest news on everything from cycling to boxing Sign up to our free sport email for all the latest news Sign up to our free sport email for all the latest news SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy World Rugby has approved plans to set up a new international league competition as part of part of a radical shake-up of the global calendar. In addition to a competition that has been tentatively named the ‘Nations Cup’, World Rugby’s council has given the go-ahead to the expansion of the World Cup to 24 teams in time for Australia 2027. World Rugby state that the new competition structure, which enshrines British and Irish Lions tours in their existing format, will also provide an increased number of fixtures between the game’s heavyweights and emerging nations. “I would like to think that around the room there might have been a few dissenters but on the whole there was a pretty significant vote in favour of these new competitions.” Criticism of the new format centres around not enough being done for less established nations, especially after the likes of Portugal and Uruguay have surpassed expectations at the World Cup, but World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin sees it as a radical improvement to the status quo.