Nations Championship resumes Friday as Scotland, Wales and England prepare for November tests

Round two opens in Dublin and Edinburgh

Phase two of the Nations Championship begins on Friday, 6 November, when Ireland host Argentina in Dublin. On Saturday, 7 November, Scotland meet New Zealand at Murrayfield and Wales play Japan, with the Wales kick-off set for 16:40 GMT. The Scotsman's preview calls Scotland's 42-28 summer defeat to South Africa a match they could and should have won, and it expects them to repeat the tempo and front-five pressure that troubled the Springboks. New Zealand arrive after four Tests against South Africa and two against Australia, and several of their key players are missing.

Wales and England face defensive and selection questions

Wales have three victories in the 12-Test Tandy era so far. In July they beat Fiji in Cardiff but lost to Argentina and South Africa, missing more than 100 tackles and conceding 16 tries across the three games. Defence coach Peter Murchie, who joined from Kobelco Kobe Steelers, said he was not happy with the defence overall and wants more consistency this November. Since November 2025 Wales have beaten Japan, Italy and Fiji and lost their other nine internationals in that period.

“We're here to win Test matches, we're not here to take part and we've spoken about that as a group.”

England will be without scrum-half Alex Mitchell for the entire Nations Championship after his fourth hamstring injury of 2026. England play Australia, Japan and New Zealand this month, and Jack van Poortvliet, who started all three of England's summer Tests, is the likely first-choice nine. Ben Spencer and Harry Randall have been called in as alternatives. Fly-half Fin Smith is still recovering from a calf problem but took part in running drills, and England sources remain optimistic he will be fit for the Australia match. Hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie and flanker Tom Curry took part in modified training and are expected to be selected.

Finals weekend and the two tables

The competition runs two tables, one for the six northern Six Nations sides (Ireland, England, France, Italy, Scotland and Wales) and one for the six southern sides (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Fiji and Japan). At the time of the Irish Independent's guide, France led the northern table, Ireland sat fourth two points back and Italy were bottom, while South Africa topped the southern table and Fiji were bottom. The northern sides host three matches each this month before all teams meet at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham for the finals weekend on 27 November, with six matches across Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Points reset for that weekend, and the winning hemisphere earns two points in the grand final. If the tables stayed as they are, France would face South Africa in the final.

World Rugby's refereeing changes

The top 24 head coaches met World Rugby officials outside London before the Nations Championship returns. Referees will clamp down on scrum technique, with loosehead props not allowed a tucked right shoulder and front rows asked to be temple-to-temple on engagement. Officials will only reward teams that establish dominance in a straight line. Changes also cover the breakdown head contact process and the knee-drop and hip-drop tackle laws, and a hip-drop that sees a player fall directly on the legs will draw stiffer sanction. Jonathan Humphreys led the scrum presentation, while Brendon Pickerill led the sessions on foul play and the TMO.

World Rugby's data shows average tries per game rising from 6.3 to 8.2, while successful penalty kicks fell from 3.5 in 2024 to 1.5 in 2026. Ball in play time has grown by more than two minutes since 2024 and stoppages are down 10 per cent.

20246.3

20268.2

2024

6.3 tries per game

2026

8.2 tries per game

Data from the article text

20243.5

20261.5

2024

3.5 penalties per game

2026

1.5 penalties per game

Data from the article text