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England Autumn Schedule Released.

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:13 pm
by Jake
England’s senior men’s side will play four matches, including three Quilter Internationals, as part of a new one-off Autumn Nations Cup tournament this autumn.

Taking place over four weekends between 13 November and 6 December 2020, the Autumn Nations Cup will be a unique eight-team competition involving the Six Nations countries, as well as Georgia and Fiji in two pools of four.

England are drawn in Group A alongside Ireland, Wales and Georgia with Group B comprising France, Scotland, Italy and Fiji.

Eddie Jones and his squad kick off their Autumn Nations Cup campaign with a Quilter International against Georgia at Twickenham Stadium on 14 November (KO 15:00 GMT). This is only the third time the two sides will have faced each other in an international fixture and the first time outside a world cup, having previously met in the 2003 and 2011 tournaments. England won both previous encounters.

On 21 November, England take on Ireland at Twickenham Stadium (KO 15.00 GMT) for the second time in 2020; this match is the second Quilter International in Group A. Prior to the men’s match, England women will play their second of two autumn internationals against France (KO 12.00 GMT) making it a double header at Twickenham. The Red Roses will have played away the previous weekend.

England men will then end the pool stages of the Autumn Nations Cup on 28 November versus Wales (KO 16:00) before a final ranking match will take place on 6 December at Twickenham Stadium to determine the team’s final position in the Autumn Nations Cup competition.

Based on the pool rankings coming into the final weekend, each team will face off against the team ranked in their same position in the opposite pool, a format which promises some intriguing and unexpected clashes e.g. 1st place Group A v 1st place Group B, 2nd place Group A v 2nd place Group B etc.

Broadcast details for the tournament will be confirmed in due course.

RFU CEO Bill Sweeney said: “While it has not been possible to go ahead with our four originally scheduled Quilter Internationals, we have worked hard with the Six Nations and other unions to make sure we can deliver an exciting updated schedule of Quilter Internationals given all the challenges Covid-19 has placed on international travel.

“We remain cautiously optimistic about the return of fans to the stadium for the Quilter Internationals and look forward to hearing from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the detail following yesterday’s government update. We will provide more information in due course.”

England men’s head coach Eddie Jones said: “We have a new competition format this autumn and are expecting four quality Tests which will be a good challenge for us. It will be great to get back to Twickenham. We have incredible fans and value their support – we want to play tough, vibrant rugby and make them proud.

England women’s head coach Simon Middleton said: “We’re looking forward to a really competitive game against France. It’ll be great to play on home soil and where better place to play than Twickenham? It’s the ultimate stage to play on for an English player”.

The Quilter Internationals as part of the Autumn Nations Cup round off a nine-week programme in the autumn for England. Eddie Jones’ squad have a re-scheduled home fixture against the Barbarians (KO 14:00) for the uncapped Quilter Cup match on 25 October.

The following weekend, England head to the Stadio Olimpico in Rome to play Italy (KO 16:45 GMT) on 31 October, for the final match in the 2020 Guinness Six Nations postponed from March with live coverage on ITV. The Red Roses, seeking a Grand Slam, will also complete their postponed Six Nations match against Italy that same weekend.