“Where hemispheres collide,” proclaim the London Underground billboards, competing for attention with adverts for West End shows and the latest blockbuster films. Images of Maro Itoje, Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu catch the eye as commuters ride the escalators. “Six matches. Three days. Two hemispheres. One champion.” The promise is five-star entertainment. Tickets are on sale now.
The Nations Championship is being hailed as a major success. It brings together the world’s top 12 teams in a high-quality series of Tests, creating rugby’s answer to a global Super League. Players may be frustrated by the amount of travel, but the payments are still being made.
Yet while the Nations Championship is broadcast around the world, the countries beyond rugby’s 12-team elite are arriving in Europe with limited funds, little exposure and growing concerns about their future. Most players involved in the second-tier Nations Cup earn less than £500 a week. Some members of the coaching and management teams are working without pay.
The Nations Championship is privately owned by the Six Nations and SANZAAR — South African, New Zealand, Australian and Argentinian Rugby — with Fiji and Japan invited to complete the division. The Nations Cup features the next 12 teams to qualify for next year’s World Cup: Georgia, Hong Kong, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Zimbabwe, Canada, Chile, Samoa, Tonga, the United States and Uruguay.
Daily Mail Sport has spoken to Tier Two coaches across the rugby world who fear the new structure could inflict lasting damage. One of their main concerns is the prospect of heavy defeats during next year’s pool matches in Australia.
“I worry that some rugby nations are going to disappear,” warns Uruguay rugby chief Sebastian Pineyrua. “We didn’t make any money from our games in July. When we play Zimbabwe at Ealing in November, we will make no money. Zero.
Uruguay have qualified for their sixth World Cup next year, but the widening gap in international rugby threatens to make their challenge more daunting than ever
Samoa are among the nations being left behind as the Six Nations and SANZAAR teams take the largest share of the available revenue
“The ticket revenue will cover the cost of the venue. World Rugby will pay for our travel to Europe — in economy class. We have managers who work for free. The hosts or promoter pay for the hotels. There are no television rights for us.
“For Tier Two nations, it is difficult to make our leading players available. Take Santiago Arata, our scrum-half. His club, Castres, says: ‘No, we will keep Arata because we are already giving players to France and he won’t progress in these games.’
“If you are Tongan or Samoan and earning £500 a week, why would you fight with your club president to play in matches that will not add value to your career? This division will only widen the gap. It will be extremely difficult for Nations Cup teams to compete at the World Cup.”
Six Nations chief executive Tom Harrison has described the Nations Championship as “a catalyst of growth for a sport that is ready to go truly global”. But the packed Samoa-Tonga Test at the Rugby League World Cup on Sunday should raise serious concerns. Thirteen of the players involved had switched from rugby union to league. In the southern hemisphere, rugby league is the code moving forward.
“It will be so tough for us,” said Tonga’s union head coach Tevita Tuifua, who watched 21-year-old prospect Leka Halasima leave the Auckland-based Blues Super Rugby franchise for an opportunity in league. “The NRL is massive now and the atmosphere around the Rugby World Cup has been crazy in Tonga.
“When you look at the bigger picture and our Rugby World Cup preparations, it is unfair that we are operating at a Tier Two level. We are in the same group as England and Wales, and there is a huge difference in preparation.”
The Pacific Islands remain rich in rugby talent, but the sport is under severe pressure there. Samoa is currently voluntarily suspended from the World Rugby council after the prime minister raised concerns about its union, which was chaired by a member of the opposition party.
Known as Western Samoa until 1997, the country reached two World Cup quarter-finals, in 1991 and 1995. It has won 15 of its 33 pool-stage matches and came within a point of England in 2023. This time, however, Samoa only scraped through qualification after earning a try bonus point in a draw with Belgium.
A packed Samoa-Tonga Test at the Rugby League World Cup should sound the alarm, with 13 players having switched from union to league
Western Samoa’s 1991 victory over Wales remains one of rugby’s great upsets, but this proud nation now finds itself on the margins
Samoa’s Super Rugby franchise, Moana Pasifika, has folded, while the country no longer has a national stadium. Its players have assembled for a training camp in York, with Samoa high-performance manager Ramsey Tomokino increasingly worried about what lies ahead.
“When we don’t have major fixtures, we lose huge amounts of revenue,” says Tomokino. “Our players earn two or three per cent of what an England player is paid. It sounds tragic even to say it.
“We still have the issue of clubs putting pressure on players. The great Samoa teams had players in the Premiership and Top 14. Now we do not have many.
“It is a catch-22. When we perform well, our players are in the shop window and clubs recruit them. We need to perform, but we also need to face meaningful opposition.
“The one positive is that we have fixtures locked in. We can beat major teams when all the conditions are right. We probably should have beaten England at the last World Cup, but a try was disallowed. Samoa eventually lost 18-17.”
The new structure was approved unanimously in October 2024. Promotion and relegation are scheduled to begin in 2030, potentially giving more Tier Two nations access to the top level by 2032.
However, Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney has said relegation would be “cataclysmic” for Wales, while many unions have greeted the proposals with deep suspicion.
“I do not believe they will introduce promotion and relegation in the Nations Championship — forget it. It is impossible,” Pineyrua adds.
Uruguay and other nations outside the elite doubt that the Six Nations would ever allow Wales to drop into the Nations Cup
Moana Pasifika once competed against famous Super Rugby sides such as the Crusaders, but Samoa’s franchise has now folded
“The Six Nations and SANZAAR own the competition. The Six Nations will not take the risk of Wales being outside the tournament. It is about money. How could Wales remain in the Six Nations while competing in the second division? Rugby does not generate enough revenue to pay the full cost. That is a major problem.”
Portugal became one of the stories of the 2023 World Cup after drawing with Georgia and defeating Fiji. Their head coach Simon Mannix would welcome an extra Test against a Tier One nation, but believes expanding the calendar further would be unrealistic.
“We have consolidated 14th place in the world, which is no small achievement when we mainly play teams ranked below us,” says Mannix. “It is now difficult for us to climb higher.
“Physically, we could not play three Tier One nations in three weeks — we would have no players left by the third week. We do not have the depth to keep putting out teams. There is a romantic appeal to playing those countries, but you have to be realistic.
“The Nations Cup has been very good for us. This is the first year we have had a semi-professional structure, with access to around 27 players for training. But sessions take place at 7am because the players also work and study. We have a nuclear engineer, a dentist, a doctor and finance consultants.
“Of course, it could be much better. Rugby is divided between the haves and the have-nots, and we are among the have-nots. There is a monopoly. The Six Nations is a closed shop that generates enormous sums of money. Teams such as Georgia have been knocking on the door and feel excluded. I understand their frustration.”
Over the past decade, Georgia have been the dominant European side outside the elite. They have defeated Wales and Italy and campaigned relentlessly for inclusion in the Six Nations.
Their national stadium has sold out repeatedly in recent years, but high-performance director Levan Maisashvili believes Georgian rugby’s progress has stalled.
Portugal defeated Fiji and drew with Georgia at the last World Cup, but their coach admits they could not compete physically with top nations every week
Georgia have beaten Wales and Italy and repeatedly sought entry to the Six Nations, but believe their progress has now stalled
“The new format is obviously bad for our development,” says Maisashvili. “We do not have enough high-quality matches. If we want to develop rugby, we have to play against the leading teams. Now we have nothing.
“Look at any other sport. Only rugby is so closed and conservative. Of course, it is a commercial issue, but opening the competition to more countries would create more commercial opportunities. Instead, international rugby is being reduced to 12 teams.
“We started winning matches and showing people that we can also be popular. People who do not know rugby ask: ‘What comes next? Do you play the big teams?’ The answer is nothing. Anyone who understands business will say rugby has no future in countries treated this way.”
So, as Twickenham prepares to host its grand spectacle, spare a thought for the nations beyond rugby’s inner circle.
