As the fervour dies down from a Rugby World Cup that will live long in the memory, sides are already preparing for this time next year, with plans being put in place for a busy set of Autumn Internationals.
The traditional November fare will see all of the Guinness Six Nations outfits line up a series of Test matches, in preparation for the 2021 edition of Rugby’s Greatest Championship.
Only England and Scotland have thus-far confirmed fixtures, while the four other unions busy themselves with finalising their clashes.
Here are the dates to keep in the diary
England
After a thrilling run all the way to the World Cup final was put to an agonising end as England fell just short against a ruthless South Africa side, Eddie Jones’ team are preparing to once again test themselves against the world’s best.
Following on from their hard-fought semi-final victory against New Zealand in the semi-finals out in Japan – their first over the All Blacks since 2012 – England will once again face off against the three-time World Cup champions when they come to Twickenham on Saturday 7 November.
They follow that up with the visit of Argentina a week later, before Australia come to town on Saturday 28 November to round things off.
England fixtures:
England v New Zealand, 15:00 Saturday 7 November 2020, Twickenham
England v Argentina, 15:00 Saturday 14 November 2020, Twickenham
England v Australia, 15:00 Saturday 28 November, Twickenham
Scotland
Gregor Townsend’s men have just one fixture confirmed for their 2020 series: a mouth-watering rematch against Japan.
Scotland were toppled by the hosts in the final match of Pool A at the World Cup as Japan sealed a knockout berth at their expense.
That was the first time that Scotland had lost to Japan, having racked up convincing victories over the Cherry Blossoms in their previous seven meetings.
They will look to get back to winning ways against the ever-improving side when they come to BT Murrayfield on Saturday 14 November.
Scotland fixtures:
Scotland v Japan, KO TBC Saturday 14 November 2020, BT Murrayfield
Ireland
Whilst they are yet to be confirmed, Ireland have a trio of November matches pencilled into their schedule.
They are set to face Australia, South Africa and Japan in a tasty-looking trio of November fixtures, with dates, kick-off-times and stadia yet to be rubber-stamped.
