HONG KONG CHINA TO COMPETE AT WORLD RUGBY NATIONS CUP IN 2026
PUBLISHED ON 20 NOV 2025
As one of the teams qualified for the Men’s Rugby World Cup in Australia, it has been announced by World Rugby that Hong Kong China Men’s XVs will also compete in World Rugby’s Nations Cup in 2026.
This is part of a new World Rugby schedule to bring the world’s best 24 teams together for top-level international Test Matches, with a Nations Championship running in parallel. Both competitions will be played across the July and November international windows. The 2026 editions of the competitions will play a key role in individual teams' preparations ahead of the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027.
A top-tier Nations Championship features the Six Nations Rugby teams (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales), the SANZAAR nations (Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) and Japan and Fiji) as invitational teams.
The second-tier Nations Cup features Canada, Chile, Georgia, Hong Kong China, Portugal, Romania, Samoa, Spain, Tonga, Uruguay, USA and Zimbabwe. The teams will be split into two regional pools, with each team facing all six teams in the opposite pool – playing three matches in July and three matches in November to do so. Details on the pools and schedule will be announced by World Rugby in due course.
The Nations Championship and Nations Cup will take place in 2026 and 2028, with 2027 and 2029 fixture programmes – when the World Cup and British and Irish Lions tours take place – still being determined (read full story via World Rugby).
