The inaugural Nations Championship marked a watershed in rugby’s professional era. Across 18 matches, 653,210 people attended the opening three rounds of the Nations Championship, with and average attendance of 36,289 per match and 80% stadium occupancy at venues all around the globe.
At the home of the 2027 World Cup in Australia, the outcomes were even more promising. A 98% ‘sell-out’ for the opening game against Ireland at Sydney Football stadium, 99% and 52K folk watching the blockbuster fixture against Six Nations Champions France one week later at the Suncorp in Brisbane.
As American Sports have long since discovered, the key to putting bums on seats and growing the game is more scoring. Over the last decade, scoring in the NBA has exploded from 100 points per team per game in 2014-2015 to 116.6 points per team per game in 2025-26. High-scoring games drive the engagement of casual spectators and social media share in the digital age of Facebook and ‘X’ and Instagram.
Veteran Basketball coach Sergio Scariolo coached Real Madrid and the Spanish national team and worked for the Toronto Raptors in the NBA. He understood the clear difference between the sport in Europe and the USA: "Protection for attackers is far superior in the NBA. [In Europe] much more touching, grabbing or pushing is allowed. [The NBA] favours the possibility that a player has more freedom and space to score.”
The first three rounds of the Nations Championship showed that Rugby is catching on fast. At domestic level, the biggest offensive strides in recent times have been made by the Prem in England, but the Nations Championship convincingly outpointed the Prem in July:
Nations Championship [rounds 1-3] – Prem comparison
| Tournament | Average ball-in-play time [minutes] | Average tries [per team per game] | Average points [per team per game] | Average rucks [per team per game] | Average rucks lost [per team per game] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nations Champ 2026 | 37.2’ | 4.5 | 30.9 | 101 | 2.6 |
| English Prem [2025-26] | 37.0 | 4.3 | 29.4 | 89 | 3.0 |
For the first time in recorded rugby history, a tournament averaged over 200 rucks per game. There were 15 times more rucks than scrums and eight times more rucks than lineouts. Set-pieces were being won at an average rate of 91% [lineout] and 94% [scrum], with the unavoidable conclusion that modern rugby is increasingly being played outside the notion of ‘contest’, and ever further away from the set-piece.
The two area of most interest for coaches of the game in the new competition were the ruck and the maul. Under new head coach Dave Rennie, the All Blacks emphasized breakdown control, while a recent rule change at the maul favoured Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks:
All Blacks-Springboks comparison
| Tournament | Average ball-in-play time [minutes] | Average tries [per team per game] | Average points [per team per game] | Average rucks [per team per game] | Average rucks lost [per team per game] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rennie’s All Blacks | 41’ | 6.0 | 40.3 | 139 | 2.3 |
| Rassie’s Springboks | 36’ | 6.7 | 43.3 | 81 | 1.0 |
At the ruck, ‘Prem’ refereeing rules were firmly applied, in accordance with the current guidance that one player from each side in contact over the tackle ball constitutes the formation of a ruck, with no further competition for the ball possible after that contact had been made:
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) July 19, 2026
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) July 19, 2026
Both examples come from the third-round game between New Zealand and Ireland. Ireland had clearly decided they wanted to add a second man to the ruck defence to overload the All Blacks’ cleanout.
The problem for the men in green was that the referee [Australia’s Nic Berry] called ‘ruck formed’ after contact had been made between the first two players on either side. In the first clip, Kiwi tight-head Tyrel Lomax takes out his opposite number #3 Tadhg Furlong and Irish open-side Josh Van Der Flier [in the red hat] appears to have a clear crack at the ball on the deck. He is not being cleaned out by an opponent, but because Lomax has already made contact with Furlong, Berry asks him to hand the ball back to the All Blacks.
In the second clip, the initial cleanout leaves the second Irish defender [Ciaran Frawley, in the headband] on his feet and over the ball, but there is nothing he can do either to affect the play or pick up the pill. The All Blacks built a massive 149 rucks over the course of the game, and you can see why they were able to do it.
The recent ruling at the maul also works heavily in favour of the attacking side. Under the old rules, provided defenders maintained their original bind with an inside arm, they could work their way around the side of a maul, and potentially, seal off the ball-carrier from behind and effect a turnover.
Wind the clock forward 12 months, and World Rugby directives had changed so that ‘players are asked to recognise that when they get beyond the ball and out of the contest, they [have to] leave the maul’.Around 12 months previously, Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus had claimed rather melodramatically that ‘the maul is dying’ but he was well-pleased with the change at the Nations Championship: “I think there were more maul-drive tries scored in this opening round [of the Nations Championship] than altogether in the 2026 Six Nations, if I have my stats correct. I want to give World Rugby credit there. Because you can’t ‘drag’ in a maul anymore, you have to put more numbers in.”
Three penalties at the maul in the final quarter enabled his charges to overcome a Scotland side which had set 128 rucks and dominated the breakdown at Loftus Versveld:
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) July 29, 2026
— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) July 29, 2026
In both instances, the Springboks only play out through their backline when the situation is risk-free, after penalty advantage from the lineout maul. In the first instance, two Scotland defenders creep up the left-hand side of a South African maul and are pinged when they fail to retire quickly enough by French referee Pierre Brousset. Under the old rules, they could work their way through on to the ball-carrier, #2 Malcolm Marx at the back, and shut down the play at source.
Summary
The notion of the contest is becoming more difficult for the defensive side to manage in all areas of the game.
Scrums and lineouts at the first three rounds of the Nations Championship were won at an average rate of 90% plus by the feeding side.
Rucks hit 200 plus per game for the first time in recorded rugby history, while the maul returned as an attacking weapon with one of the main means of defence denied by law. The old adage that ‘defence wins championships’ is redundant, and the modern marketing of the game is all about attack, attack, and more attack. Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant would be spinning in his grave.
.jpg)
.jpg)
