Autumn Nations Cup teams and when England and Scotland…

Autumn Nations Cup teams and when England and Scotland play after Ireland v Wales

The Autumn Nations Cup is a tournament that was created to give the end-of-year internationals some meaning.

It also justifies the extended international window that has been brought in this year after the 2020 calendar was decimated by the coronavirus, leaving the game in urgent need of money.

It's doubtful that the tournament will be around in its current form next year, so there's a good chance that this year's tournament will be unique.

With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the key details....

Who is playing in the Autumn Nations Cup?

The tournament includes all of the Six Nations unions - England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.

They are joined by Georgia and Fiji, to boost the numbers up to eight.

A problem has developed on Friday though, with the France v Fiji game cancelled due to a Covid outbreak in the Fijian camp. It remains to be seen what will be done about that result, with a decision expected on Monday.

How will the Autumn Nations Cup work?

They eight teams have been split into two groups (as shown below). Each team will play the other teams in their group once to determine their ranking.

The winners of each group will play each other in the overall final. The two teams that finished second will play each other in a third-fourth play-off match and so on for teams in third and fourth.

Group A: England, Georgia, Ireland, Wales

Group B: Fiji, France, Italy, Scotland