2026 Nations Championship in numbers: All square at the equator while record breaking All Blacks star ‘leads the way’
2026 Nations Championship in numbers: All square at the equator while record breaking All Black star 'leads the way'
The opening leg of the 2026 Nations Championship is now complete, with South Africa and France leading their respective hemisphere tables.
Both Fiji and Italy failed to record any points from their three matches, while New Zealand and the Springboks have claimed maximum hauls. So, without further ado, let’s find out how the statistics match up!
The Southern Hemisphere sides gained a slight advantage over their Northern Hemisphere counterparts, scoring 36 more points and five more tries over the 18-game summer series. Still, it has so far proved relatively even, with both hemispheres winning 50% of their matches.
Individual accolades
Top points scorers: France scrum-half Maxime Lucu leads the way on the scoreboard with 37 points, after scoring a brace of tries against Japan. He sits five points ahead of the chasing pack, which consists of Takuro Matsunaga, Ruben Love, Fin Smith and Tomás Albornoz.
Top try scorers: Will Jordan is out in front with six after breaking the All Blacks’ Test record for the highest number of tries in their history with 51. Australian Josh Canham is the closest chaser in the Nations Championship with four.
Top tacklers: Italy’s Ross Vintcent made one more tackle than Wales‘ Jac Morgan, despite either side being able to record a single victory during the campaign.
Most metres made: Matthieu Jalibert found himself in the unfamiliar position of full-back due to Romain Ntamack’s return to fly-half, but was just as effective, making 268 metres, 13 more than England’s Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Most carries: Argentina’s Joaquín Oviedo threatened the opposition line more than any other, making 60 carries, 10 ahead of the chasing pack.
Top assists: Restored to the starting XV, Jack van Poortvliet repaid Steve Borthwick’s faith in style, concluding the opening leg with four assists across three starts. Fellow scrum-halves Jamison Gibson-Park and Lucu backed him up with three each, while Kiwi Jordie Barrett also helped his team score thrice.
Team stats
Most points: South Africa pipped England by just one try to score 130 points across their three matches, while New Zealand secured 121 points. England’s impressive victory over Fiji did skew their stats, however, scoring 73 points in just the one match, which equated to 58% of their points total.
Most tackles: Despite ending up with a minus 94 points differential, Italy topped the tackle chart with almost 100 more than England. Their 632 tackles at 87.1% remained solid, but their attacking prowess let them down.
Most metres: New Zealand profited the most from open play, making 1,767 metres with ball in hand. Scotland were their closest rivals on 1,719, while third-placed France sat over a hundred metres behind – although they did so with just 434 carries compared to Scotland’s 550 and France’s 599.
Most offloads: Unsurprisingly, Fiji are the competition leaders for the number of offloads with 50, 16 over their nearest rivals, Scotland. But despite their flamboyant playing style, Fiji’s structure failed to match up, resulting in a minus-96-point differential.
Attendance figures
Highest attendance: 55,125 – Fiji v Scotland – The Scottish Gas Murrayfield hosted Fiji’s ‘home game’, resulting in the highest attendance of the opening leg, and a new national record for Fiji. The Flying Fijians, unable to host in their own country, were forced to play all their home matches at away grounds, including Everton Football Club’s Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool and Cardiff City Stadium.
Lowest attendance: 11,021 – Japan v Ireland – Eddie Jones’ Japan were another side that hosted away from home, being forced to play north of Sydney, in Newcastle, Australia, at the McDonald Jones Stadium. Although the stadium caters for 33,000 people, this Nations Championship match could only fill a third of capacity.
Total attendance: Across 18 matches, 641,550 people attended the opening leg of the Nations Championship, averaging an attendance of 35,642 per match.