Autumn Nations Cup plans confirmed with England to meet Georgia in opener of eight-team tournament in November

England's opening match will be at Twickenham on November 14.
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Will Macpherson10 September 2020

Rugby's autumn schedule has been confirmed with the announcement of an eight-team Autumn Nations Cup, with England meeting late call-ups Georgia in their opening game.

Restrictions on international travel made the usual Autumn Internationals schedule impossible, with the likes of New Zealand and Australia unable to get to Europe. So rugby’s administrators were forced to innovate and find a one-off solution to ease the game’s financial issues and provide entertainment for fans.

Ben Morel, CEO of the Six Nations, promised it would be a “unique and compelling tournament proposition”.

England are drawn in Group A alongside Ireland, Wales and Georgia with France, Scotland, Italy and Fiji in Group B. Each team will play the other three in its group, before meeting the team that finishes in the corresponding position on a final round on the weekend of 5-6 December to produce a final position from one to eight.

The tournament opens on Friday 13 November in Dublin, when Ireland meet Wales.

England will play three matches at Twickenham, starting with Georgia on 14 November, then Ireland a week later. Eddie Jones’s team will then play Wales, with the venue still unconfirmed, but also likely to take place in the capital with Cardiff’s Principality Stadium out of action. England will return to Twickenham for the final match of the tournament on 6

That means England’s Autumn programme runs from 25 October, when they play the Barbarians at Twickenham, until the Nations Cup final round on 6 December. On 31 October, they must also complete the 2020 Six Nations campaign against Italy in Rome.

England’s meeting with Georgia will be their third ever, and first outside World Cups. Georgia have replaced Japan in the original proposed make-up of this tournament and have a great opportunity to push for inclusion in the Six Nations at some stage.

“We are absolutely delighted to formally announce details of the Autumn Nations Cup,” said Morel. “A significant amount of time and effort has gone into delivering this new tournament format in testing circumstances and the spirit of collaboration amongst key stakeholders has been outstanding.”

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