Ireland to compete in inaugural Rugby Nations Championship in Australia in 2026

Ireland are due in Australia in two years for the 2027 World Cup but next year’s Rugby Nations Championship trip will make it three years in a row that the Irish Lions have played and coached Down Under.

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR: Andy Farrell and his Irish Lions are set for a return to Australia in 2026 when Ireland compete in the inaugural Rugby Nations Championship. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.

Andy Farrell and his Irish Lions are set for a return to Australia in 2026 when Ireland compete in the inaugural Rugby Nations Championship.

The Ireland boss led the British & Irish Lions to a 2-1 series victory over the Wallabies, though the tourists lost the third and final Test to Joe Schmidt’s side in Sydney on Saturday.

Farrell assembled a largely Irish coaching ticket to join him on tour with attack coach Andy Goodman, defence coach Simon Easterby, scrum coach John Fogarty and kicking coach Johnny Sexton all helping to guide a squad featuring a record number of 18 Ireland players in what became a 45-man party that delivered eight wins of their nine matches on Australian soil over the past five weeks.

Ireland are due in Australia in two years for the 2027 World Cup but next year’s Rugby Nations Championship trip will make it three years in a row that the Irish Lions have played and coached on these shores.

It is understood Farrell’s team will travel Down Under next summer to play Australia, New Zealand and Japan as the new biennial championship replaces traditional end of season tours against a host nation. Japan will play their games in either Australia or New Zealand with confirmation of the fixture schedule expected from World Rugby in the coming weeks.

Organisers from the global governing body, Six Nations Rugby and SANZAAR, organisers of the Rugby Championship met last week in Sydney to the thrash out the details of the new tournament which will have two tiers of 12 nations each.

Ireland and their Six Nations rivals will form a European Conference in the top tier with the SANZAAR nations – Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa plus Japan and Fiji in a Rest of the World Conference.

Each national side will play the six opponents in the other conference across the July and November international windows with the winners of each conference to meet in a Grand Final to decide the champions.

The 2026 final is set for Twickenham at the end of next November, with the 2028 decider scheduled for Qatar and the United States in 2030.