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England, Ireland, Wales and Fiji grouped together in new Autumn tournament - reports
By Online Editors
England, Ireland, Wales and Fiji will face each other in Group 1 of a new eight-team tournament which will take the place of the Autumn Tests this year, according to reports. The new tournament is penned in for a November 14 start date, just weeks after the suspended 2020 Six Nations fixtures are set to be completed.
As reported by the BBC, the new tournament will see Japan and Fiji join the Six Nations teams in a two-group format, and will replace the original Test schedule which featured the likes of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa coming to Europe.
The suspended Six Nations season is due to be completed on the final week of October, with Wales set to play Scotland, Ireland to play France, and England taking on Italy. Ireland will also play an outstanding fixture against Italy the week beforehand.
All of those fixtures were suspended in March as the coronavirus pandemic caused disarray to the global rugby calendar.
And following the completion of those Six Nations fixtures, Test sides are now set to be quickly back in action in a brand new eight-team tournament.
Group 1 will reportedly consist of England, Ireland, Fiji and Wales, while Japan will join Scotland, Italy and France in Group 2.
The tournament will be played on four consecutive weekends. At the end of the group stages, each team will play their equivalent from the other group: 1st v 1st, 2nd v 2nd etc.
Confirmation of the new, as yet unnamed, tournament, is expected next month.
It remains unclear whether supporters will be able to attend, with strict restrictions on mass gatherings still in place across Europe.
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Latest Comments
I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
Go to commentsEngland played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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