Six Nations and Sanzaar clash with World Rugby over bid to block Nations Championship relegation

On 10 November 2026 the Six Nations and Sanzaar entered a fresh dispute with World Rugby after some of the sport’s leading unions sought protections to prevent any of them being relegated from the Nations Championship. The disagreement centers on proposals from members of a new body, F10, which was established by 10 unions to run the Nations Championship and to market broadcast and commercial rights outside the Rugby World Cup.

F10 was created to manage the Nations Championship and to sell broadcast and commercial rights for competitions other than the World Cup, which remains World Rugby’s property. The set-up has prompted concern that some founding unions, particularly Wales and Italy, are lobbying for guard rails to prevent relegation to the second-tier Nations Cup, which is administered by World Rugby. Smaller unions and World Rugby want the Nations Cup commercial rights bundled and sold alongside those of the Nations Championship so they would share in the proceeds. The competing objectives over rights and status have become a primary source of tension between the 10 unions and the global governing body.

The Nations Championship secured more than 80 broadcast deals for this year’s tournament under agreements brokered before F10 was formed, while the Nations Cup has attracted just 13 deals. Many Nations Cup fixtures are being streamed on RugbyPass TV, which is owned by World Rugby, and that difference in commercial reach is central to the debate over revenue distribution and exposure. The disparity in broadcast arrangements underpins calls from smaller unions and World Rugby to combine the commercial packages.

Japan and Fiji have been granted invitational places for the first three editions of the Nations Championship, a status that runs until 2030 under the licence issued by World Rugby. That licence requires promotion and relegation to be introduced in 2030, at which point an open-league system is to begin. The creation of the Nations Championship itself was approved at a World Rugby Council meeting in Paris before the 2023 World Cup final on the proviso it would become an open league by 2030.

The Council vote to create the Nations Championship required a 75% majority and was recorded as 41 in favour and 10 against, giving an 80% majority. Sources present at that vote told the Guardian any unilateral attempt to ringfence the 10 founding members would need council approval because it would alter the conditions agreed in 2023. Those sources warned reopening the question of membership or relegation could risk destabilising the competition.

World Rugby originally proposed the Nations Championship concept nearly a decade ago but unions resisted accepting relegation, and a long-running power struggle followed. The governing body also initially suggested a joint sale of commercial rights; the 10 biggest unions have since moved to sell those rights themselves through F10. That shift in commercial control sits at the heart of the current dispute over status and revenue-sharing.

After four rounds of the inaugural Nations Championship Italy and Fiji sit as the lowest-ranked teams, while Georgia and the USA lead the second-tier Nations Cup. Six Nations officials say relegation will be introduced in 2030 as envisaged, but they acknowledge the precise mechanism has still to be agreed. Negotiations over the size of any parachute payment for a relegated union, intended to protect financial stability, remain ongoing and individual unions are lobbying for exemptions.

Abi Tierney, the Welsh Rugby Union chief executive, said recently that it would be “‘cataclysmic” if Wales were relegated. Bill Sweeney, the Rugby Football Union chief executive, said: "There's a review group that has been set up by World Rugby and is chaired by Brett Robinson," Sweeney said. "They're looking at how the aspect of promotion and relegation can be set up. The basic premise is still the same, how that comes into effect needs to be sorted out." Under the licence terms agreed by World Rugby, promotion and relegation must be implemented in 2030, and the review group is tasked with determining how that process will be established.