England take on South Africa today as a new era officially begins for international rugby union. It is the opening weekend of the inaugural Nations Championship, a biennial competition involving all of the world's major teams that pits the Northern Hemisphere against the Southern Hemisphere across the summer and autumn fixture windows.
England's Challenge Against the Springboks
It is the hardest start possible for England, who are desperate to build on their thrilling performance against France to close an otherwise dreadful Six Nations in which they lost four successive games for the first time to pile the pressure on head coach Steve Borthwick 18 months out from the 2027 World Cup in Australia. They are major underdogs against South Africa, the reigning back-to-back world champions who have also won consecutive Rugby Championship crowns and recently scored 80 points and 12 tries in a warm-up demolition of the Barbarians.
Beating the Springboks at their high-altitude fortress of Ellis Park in Johannesburg is a seriously difficult task, with England missing Maro Itoje as their influential captain gets a well-earned rest after a gruelling year. They face Fiji in Liverpool next before going to Argentina later this month, ahead of visits from Australia, Japan and New Zealand to Twickenham later in the year.
How to Watch South Africa vs England
TV channel: ITV has bought the rights to the first two editions of the new Nations Championship, in 2026 and 2028. They will be showing all the games live and free-to-air on Saturday, starting with New Zealand vs France before Japan vs Italy, Australia vs Ireland and Fiji vs Wales, plus Argentina vs Scotland later in the evening. South Africa vs England kicks off at 4:40pm BST and is being broadcast on ITV4, where coverage begins at 4:20pm. Canada vs Morocco in the opening game of the football World Cup round of 16 gets top billing over on ITV1.
Live stream: Those preferring to watch the match online can do so via the ITVX website and app, which is free with a registration.
Live blog: Standard Sport will keep you fully up to date on the game as it happens with our live blog.
