After being starved of top-level rugby for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s been almost wall-to-wall action for the past four months.
Just two weeks after the conclusion of the much-delayed Six Nations, the new Autumn Nations Cup got underway. This four-week tournament replaces the usual Autumn Internationals, which were revised in light of reduced travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, the same countries we saw in the Six Nations (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy) are joined by Georgia and Fiji this year.
Having said that, due to an outbreak of Covid-19 in the travelling camp, all of Fiji’s three group games were abandoned, with their opponents all awarded 28-0 victories.
All the nations have now played their group games, so the competition will be decided this weekend with a knockout mini-tournament. Here’s how to catch all the action, including if you’re not currently in the UK.
Autumn Nations Cup fixtures
There’s plenty to play for as we head into Round 2. Here’s the full list of fixtures:
Group A – Sat 21 Nov
- England vs Ireland – KO 15.00 – Prime Video/Channel 4
- Wales vs Georgia – KO 17.15 – Prime Video/S4C (Welsh)
Group B – Sat 21 Nov
- Scotland vs France – KO 15.00 – Prime Video
- Italy 28-0 Fiji – Italy awarded win
Round 1 results
- England 40-0 Georgia
- Italy 17-28 Scotland
- France 28-0 Fiji – France awarded win
How to watch the Autumn Nations Cup in the UK
Amazon Prime Video has the rights to every single game in the Autumn Nations Cup in the UK. That means you’ll need to subscribe in order to catch all the action.
The cheapest subscription costs £5.99 per month and will get you Prime Video only. However, £7.99 per month also gets you free next-day delivery, millions of songs available to stream and unlimited photo storage and reading. This works out slightly cheaper if you pay £79.99 for a whole year, or drops to £3.99 per month if you can validate your student status. See more on the Amazon website.
Can I watch the Autumn Nations Cup for free?
As you might have seen if you’ve clicked the link above. Amazon is offering a free 30-day trial of Prime for new customers. That covers the entirety of the Autumn Nations Cup, so you’re essentially able to watch the tournament for free. Just make sure you cancel your subscription before the end of the 30-day period, otherwise you’ll be charged £5.99 or £7.99.
Besides that, a handful of fixtures are available on free-to-air. Channel 4 has the rights to show one game from each round of group stage fixtures, but nothing from the finals weekend.
You can watch Channel 4 via almost all TV services, online or via the All 4 app, available for Android and iOS. A similar selection of matches are also broadcast in Welsh on S4C, which is available to watch via the BBC.
How to watch the Autumn Nations Cup abroad
Officially, the Autumn Nations Cup is geo-restricted, which means you can only officially stream the matches if you’re based in the UK.
However, if you are a paying Amazon Prime subscriber, with UK payment information you can get around this with a VPN. This will allow you to still appear as if you’re in the UK and retain access to channels, and it’s completely legal.
Nord VPN is one of our top recommendations, but you can check out our best VPN chart, which shows you some of the best services for accessing UK content from abroad.
Want to catch the football too? Here’s how to watch the Premier League.
Author: Anyron Copeman, Mobile Editor, Tech Advisor
Anyron is Mobile Editor at Tech Advisor, where he’s been a mainstay of the editorial team since 2019. In his current role, Anyron is responsible for all smartphone, tablet and mobile network coverage on the site. A BA Journalism graduate, he has experience with a wide range of consumer tech products and services, including smartphones, tablets, foldables, wearables and more.