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New York is to host the World Rugby Nations Championship Final in 2030, reports Christy Doran. The 2030 World Rugby Nations Championship will be the third edition following tournaments in 2026 and 2028. There is no indication of the planned New York area venue at this stage.
The World Rugby Nations Championship is to be a biennial competition. It is scheduled to take place in the existing Men’s July and November international windows every two years.
The controversial tournament will reduce the opportunity for Tier 2 teams to face Tier 1 teams. This is a result of the design as the tournament will contain twelve teams: the Six Nations, the Rugby Championship plus Japan and Fiji.
The matches will be played over two phases with three matches in July and three in November per team. A Final will take place at the end of the year to determine the winner. Promotion and relegation is planned only for 2030 or later. The USA, Georgia, Samoa and Uruguay are examples of teams who will not feature in the World Rugby Nations Championship.
Planning for the Final in New York comes with World Rugby looking to garner attention in the USA ahead of the USA hosting Rugby World Cup 2031. New York will host a match between the best from the Six Nations vs the best from the rest of the world. An example of such a fixture is France vs South Africa or England vs New Zealand.
The 2030 World Rugby Nations Championship Final will be the third final. Venues for the first and second final are yet to be finalized. Doha, Qatar has shown interest in hosting in 2026 but this was not universally well received. This may mean London hosts the inaugural option as World Rugby’s fallback option. Notwithstanding, the door has not been entirely closed on Doha or on another Middle Eastern option.
