Rugby World
How to watch URC rugby: TV channels, live streams for 2025-26 season

Glasgow Warriors top the URC table heading into the final round of regular URC fixtures (Rob Casey/SNS Group via Getty Images)Your guide to watching every game of this season’s United Rugby ChampionshipThis guide explains how to watch a URC live streams during the 2025-26 season. – Dates: 26 September 2025 – 20 …Continue reading » [...]

How to watch Women’s Six Nations 2026: Official broadcasters & streaming guide

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Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027: All you need to know including pools, fixtures and more

Can South Africa make it a hat trick of Rugby World Cup victories in 2027? (David Ramos - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)Everything you need to know about the new-look 24-team tournament taking place in Australia next year.Everything you need to know about the new-look tournament structure in Australia. [...]

Women’s Six Nations 2026: All you need to know including fixtures, squads and past winners

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Nations Championship 2026: All you need to know about the new bi-annual global rugby competition

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How to watch PREM Rugby: TV & streaming guide for 2025-26 season

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Gallagher Prem 2025-26: Teams, upcoming fixtures and everything you need to know about the current season

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Watch Leicester Tigers v Northampton Saints: How to live stream Saturday’s big PREM Rugby clash for free

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I went to a PREM Rugby ‘Away Zone’ trial. Here’s why I think they could work…

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When league met union: Remembering the Clash Of The Codes 30 years on

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Who is Louis Bielle-Biarrey? 10 things you should know about the prolific France flyer

Aged just 22, France’s Louis Bielle-Biarrey is already one of the most exciting rugby talents on the planet (David Rogers/Getty Images)The remarkable rise of the electric France and Bordeaux Bègles wingerTo say that Louis Bielle-Biarrey exploded onto the scene would be an understatement. Since making his senior debut in January …Continue reading » [...]

Is George North one of Wales’ greatest rugby players ever? I certainly think so: Paul Williams column

George North is a modern great of Welsh rugby (Getty Images)The giant back retires with 121 caps, multiple Six Nations titles and as one of the best to ever play for WalesThe giant back retires with 121 caps, multiple Six Nations titles and as one of the best to ever play for Wales [...]

Australia 2027

QUALIFICATION PROCESS

BIG 12 AUTOMATIC SPOTS
> As hosts Australia qualify automatically for the 2027 tournament with another 11 teams gaining automatic qualification by finishing in the top three positions in their pools in the 2023 World Cup. Those teams are: South Africa, New Zealand, England, Argentina, Ireland, France, Wales, Fiji, Scotland, Italy and Japan. The remaining 12 spots in the 2027 expanded 24-team format will be allocated through teams competing in a global qualification process.

Four of those spots have already gone to the semi-finalists in the Rugby Rurope Championship, with semi-finalists Georgia, Spain, Portugal and Romania all qualifying for Australia 2027. The winner of the fifth-place play-off will earn a ticket to the Final Qualification Tournament in November, when one place in Australia 2027 will go to the winner of the tournament.

EUROPE – 4 TEAMS
Qualification matches: January-March 2025
> The four teams that reach the semi-finals of the Rugby Europe Championship 2025 will qualify directly for Australia 2027. Nations involved: Belgium, Georgia, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Switzerland.
The winner of the fifth-place play-off will secure their ticket to the Final Qualification Tournament (see below).

ASIA – 1 TEAM
Qualification matches: June-July 2025
> The Asia Rugby Championship 2025 winners will qualify directly for Australia 2027.
Nations involved: Hong Kong China, Korea, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates.
The runner-up in the tournament will progress to the Asia/Africa Play-off (see below).

AFRICA – 1 TEAM
Qualification matches: July 2025
> The Rugby Africa Cup 2025 champions will qualify directly for Australia 2027. Nations involved: Algeria, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The runner-up in the tournament will progress to the Asia/Africa Play-off (see below).

SOUTH AMERICA – 1 TEAM
Qualification matches: July-September 2025
> The Sudamerica Rugby Championship 2025 winners will secure their place at Australia 2027, with the runner-up qualifying for the South America/Pacific Play-off (see below) and the third-placed team joining the line-up for the Final Qualification Tournament (see below). Nations involved: Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

PACIFIC – 3 TEAMS
Qualification matches: August-September 2025
> The top three teams in the Pacific Nations Cup 2025 (other than already-qualified Fiji and Japan) will qualify for Australia 2027. The sixth-placed team will join the South America/Pacific Play-off (see below). Nations involved: Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the United States.

SOUTH AMERICA/PACIFIC PLAY-OFF – 1 TEAM
Qualification matches: September 2025
> A home-and-away play-off between the runner-up and the team finishing sixth in the Pacific Nations Cup. The winner qualifies for Australia 2027, while the loser will join the Final Qualification Tournament (see below).

ASIA/AFRICA PLAY-OFF
Qualification matches: September 2025
> The Rugby Africa Cup 2025 runner-up will play the Asia Rugby Championship runner-up in a home-and-away play-off. The winner qualifies for the Final Qualification Tournament (see below).

FINAL QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT – 1 TEAM
Qualification matches: November 2025
> The final qualification tournament will comprise one pool of four teams, playing in a round-robin format with the winner - on competition points - qualifying for Australia 2027. The four teams will comprise the Sudamerica Rugby Championship 2025 third-place team; the South America/Pacific Play-off loser; the Rugby Europe Championship 2025 fifth-placed team; and the Africa/Asia Play-off winner.

The full Australia 2027 qualifying process explained

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Categories

BBC

Lucy Packer is the opposite of every scrum-half stereotype - but she is playing a key role in England's pursuit of a fifth straight Six Nations Grand Slam. [...]

The new Nations Championship series will begin with a six-Test Super Saturday round of fixtures on 4 July. [...]

Scotland make two changes for the final match of their Women's Six Nations campaign, with number eight Emily Coubrough and wing Shona Champbell recalled for Sunday's trip to Ireland. [...]

Second row Sam Monaghan makes her first start of this Six Nations in the only change to Ireland's XV for Sunday's final game against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium. [...]

Seren Singleton returns on the wing as the only change made by Wales for Sunday's final Six Nations game against Italy. [...]

England score nine tries to seal a 61-33 away win against Italy and set up a Women's Six Nations title decider against France. [...]

Aoife Wafer scores twice as Ireland beat Wales 33-12 at home to record their second win of the 2026 Women's Six Nations. [...]

France score 11 tries on their way to a resounding 69-28 win over Scotland, to set up a final day showdown with England for the Women's Six Nations title. [...]

Ireland's Aoife Wafer hails her team's "clinical" performance in Belfast, after scoring twice and securing a bonus point in their 33-12 win over Wales in the Women's Six Nations. [...]

BBC Sport pundits Zoe Stratford and Ruby Tui discuss the upcoming introduction of smaller rugby balls for this autumn's WXV Global Series competition. [...]

Ireland back row Aoife Wafer says Sunday's Women's Six Nations game against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium will be a "full circle moment". [...]

Enjoying life as a Wales fly-half can be testing but Dan Edwards has vowed to embrace the pressure with a smile on his face. [...]

England trio Tom Curry, Alex Coles and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso return from injury to Prem action this weekend. [...]

Wing Werner Kok and hooker John Andrew are two of 11 senior players who will leave Ulster at the end of the season. [...]

England reinforce their pack for the Six Nations Grand Slam decider against France with the return of Sadia Kabeya, Maddie Feaunati and Lilli Ives Campion. [...]