8 Nations.

Ireland are reportedly set to be pooled alongside England, Fiji and Wales as part of an expanded 8 Nations championship that will run from November 14 until December 5.

According to Peter O’Reilly of the Sunday Times, the eight-team tournament will be split into two pools of four with France, Italy, Scotland and Japan in the other pool.

He adds that each team will play three pool games each, then a play-off round 1st v 1st, 2nd v 2nd etc. Ireland look set to have Wales at home but will have to travel to Twickenham to play England.

Dates, times and full fixtures are yet to be confirmed but these plans are sure to get fans excited having been starved of test rugby for so long as a resuls of the ongoing crisis.

World Rugby last week revealed plans for a temporary international window between 24 October and 5 December for teams on both sides of the hemisphere.

In the north, this window will accommodate the postponed men’s and women’s Six Nations matches at the end of October, a rest weekend on 7 November and the 8 Nations championship.

In the south, The 2020 Rugby Championship will be hosted in full in a single country (likely new Zealand) over a reduced six-week between 7 November and 12 December.