VIRGIN MEDIA TELEVISION will show every game of the new Nations Championship, which kicks off this July.
The Irish free-to-air broadcaster has announced it will air all 42 fixtures from each edition of the fresh international rugby tournament in 2026 and 2028.
Ireland will play seven games each year.
Advertisement
The news comes on the morning of their Six Nations opener against defending champions France in Paris [KO 8.10pm Irish time, Virgin Media One].
The Six Nations takes centre stage for now, before attention turns to the biennial Nations Championship later in the year.
It will see two groups of teams competing in a Northern versus Southern Hemisphere tournament format to be played across six rounds, with three fixtures in July and again in November.
The Northern Hemisphere teams are Ireland, England, France, Italy, Scotland and Wales, with the Southern Hemisphere group made up of the SANZAAR nations –Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa — and two invitational teams, Japan and Fiji.
Ireland travel to Australia, Japan and New Zealand in July, and welcome Argentina, Fiji and South Africa to Aviva Stadium in November, before finals weekend in London.
ITV in the UK, TF1 in France, and Sky Italia in Italy, join Virgin Media Television in the major new partnership for the Nations Championship.
Virgin will also provide live coverage of the Summer and Autumn Nations Series in 2027.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
6 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Virgin Media to show every game of new Nations Championship
VIRGIN MEDIA TELEVISION will show every game of the new Nations Championship, which kicks off this July.
The Irish free-to-air broadcaster has announced it will air all 42 fixtures from each edition of the fresh international rugby tournament in 2026 and 2028.
Ireland will play seven games each year.
The news comes on the morning of their Six Nations opener against defending champions France in Paris [KO 8.10pm Irish time, Virgin Media One].
The Six Nations takes centre stage for now, before attention turns to the biennial Nations Championship later in the year.
It will see two groups of teams competing in a Northern versus Southern Hemisphere tournament format to be played across six rounds, with three fixtures in July and again in November.
The Northern Hemisphere teams are Ireland, England, France, Italy, Scotland and Wales, with the Southern Hemisphere group made up of the SANZAAR nations –Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa — and two invitational teams, Japan and Fiji.
Ireland travel to Australia, Japan and New Zealand in July, and welcome Argentina, Fiji and South Africa to Aviva Stadium in November, before finals weekend in London.
ITV in the UK, TF1 in France, and Sky Italia in Italy, join Virgin Media Television in the major new partnership for the Nations Championship.
Virgin will also provide live coverage of the Summer and Autumn Nations Series in 2027.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
On the box Rugby