Top-end tickets for the inaugural Nations Championship final at Twickenham will cost £280 as part of a weekend billed as the “Glastonbury of Rugby”, the Guardian can reveal.
The climax of the new 12-team competition, which will be held every two years and replaces traditional tours, will be held at Twickenham at the end of November with two matches on Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday.
The six Tests pit the sixth-place finisher in the northern hemisphere pool against the sixth in the southern hemisphere pool, the fifth against the fifth and so on, culminating in the first against the first. Friday will host the 6 v 6 and 3 v 3 fixtures, Saturday the 5 v 5 and 2 v 2 matches and Sunday the 4 v 4 and 1 v 1 finals.
Spectators will be “buying blind” because it is unlikely the identity of the teams contesting the finals will be known until the weekend before, with results from three July Tests and three regular fixtures in November determining the standings.
Still, the most expensive tickets to watch the 4 v 4 and 1 v 1 finals will stretch to £279.90. That allows supporters to watch two matches but it is in effect the top price for the final because tickets cannot be bought for a single match.
Those buying tickets for multiple days will receive a discount, however, and it is understood that there will be a resale market for spectators to effectively “swap” tickets if their teams are playing on different days.
While the matches take place at Twickenham, prices are set by the Six Nations organisers and Sanzaar who run the Nations Championship as a joint venture. The cheapest standard tickets for the day of the final are £125, £100 for the Saturday and £60 for the Friday. All junior tickets for finals day cost £50 and £20 for the Friday.
Well-placed sources believe their pricing strategy caters for all types of spectators, compares well with other major sporting and music events and that the Nations Championship showcases elite teams at cheaper prices than the 2027 World Cup.
England’s three home Nations Championship matches in the autumn in the weeks before finals day are against New Zealand, Australia and Japan, and prices for those are set by the RFU. Premium tickets for the match against the All Blacks will cost £238.
Interest in tickets for the finals weekend is said to be tracking at a similar rate to that of England versus New Zealand, with a significant share coming from the United States. Organisers can also expect a late surge in interest for the most expensive tickets on the Sunday should England reach the final.
Steve Borthwick’s side begin their campaign in July with a mouthwatering fixture against South Africa in Johannesburg before locking horns with Fiji. As the Guardian exclusively revealed last week, that fixture could take place at Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium before England head to Argentina.
Borthwick is weighing up fielding a second-string side against Fiji for logistical reasons but he may wish to reconsider if England pull off a Six Nations grand slam and defeat the Springboks, because the match against the Pacific Islanders would offer the chance of a world record-equalling 18th consecutive victory. The appeal of taking the Fiji fixture away from Twickenham is to steer clear of the “neutral” venue for finals day.
