The newest tournament on the block, WXV, is just around the corner.
All of the TikTok Women’s Six Nations sides will be in action across three tiers of competition as nations from around the globe face off.
Here is everything you need to know about WXV:
What is it?
WXV is a three-tier competition devised by World Rugby to ensure that international teams are involved in competitive action year-round.
There are six teams in each tier, and they play three times in a cross-pool format, the top tier is WXV1, the tier below that is WXV2 and the bottom tier is WXV3.
There is promotion up for grabs from WXV3 to WXV2 with the bottom side in the second tier facing relegation to the third tier, while WXV1 will operate as a standalone tournament.
Who is in each tier?
WXV1 will be contested by the top three TikTok Women’s Six Nations sides and the top three from the Pacific Four.
That means that England, France and Wales will each face New Zealand, Canada and Australia.
WXV2 sees the fourth-placed side in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations, which this year was Scotland, come up against the fourth-placed Pacific Four team, the USA.
They are joined by the winner of the European play-off between the side that finished fifth in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations and the winner of the Rugby Europe Women’s Championship.
Earlier this year, Italy beat Spain to ensure that they will play in WXV2 alongside one team from each of Oceania (Samoa), Asia (Japan) and Africa (South Africa).
Ireland headline WXV3 after finishing sixth in this year’s Championship, where they will take on Kazakhstan, Colombia and Spain, with Kenya and Fiji also in tier three.
When and where is it?
WXV2 will get the new competition underway when Italy play Japan in Stellenbosch on Friday 13 October.
Just one hour later, but thousands of miles away in Dubai, WXV3 begins with Fiji taking on Colombia.
Saturday sees the four other sides in those tiers begin their campaigns, with Ireland playing Kazakhstan in WXV3, while Scotland take on the WXV2 hosts South Africa.
WXV1 begins a week later with world champions New Zealand playing host, just as they did for last year’s Rugby World Cup.
England kick off WXV1 when they take on Australia on 20 October while Wales play Canada and France tackle New Zealand a day later with all the games in Wellington.
The second and third tiers are also in action with WXV2 heading to Cape Town, where they stay for the final week of the competition, while WXV3 remains in Dubai throughout.
WXV1 moves to Dunedin for their second week on 27 and 28 October, while WXV2 and WXV3 will wrap up.
The top tier ends one week later in Auckland with a rematch of the medal matches from last year’s World Cup, with a slice of history as the first WXV champions on the line.
You can find all of the fixtures here.
