The WXV1 sees the three best teams in the recent TikTok Six Nations – England, France and Wales – face the top three teams in the Pac Four Series – New Zealand, Australia and Canada – in a mouthwatering set of Test matches across New Zealand over a month.
The six teams will compete in nine Test matches in three cities, across three weekends, bidding to be the crowned the first WXV1 champions.
Wales will face Canada at the ‘Cake Tin’ in Wellington, followed by New Zealand in Dunedin, the home of the Super rugby franchise, the Highlanders, and Australia at the home of the New Zealand rugby league side, the Warriors, in Auckland.
Cunningham, said: “The announcement of our WXV fixtures is a genuinely exciting one but it also underlines the task ahead of us – we are in a tournament for the six best teams in the world.
“We have earned the right to be in a tournament that effectively starts at the quarter-final stages of a World Cup. Canada, New Zealand, the current world champions, and Australia will be formidable opponents, but we are relishing the prospect of measuring ourselves against them.
“All the players, coaches and staff take pride in the fact we qualified for a brand-new global tournament and are in the inaugural WXV1. We celebrated our performances in the recent Six Nations and made some real strides forward and laid some solid foundations.
“We are under no illusions of the challenges ahead of us and the calibre of teams we face is an exciting one and it does the focus the mind ahead of what promises to be a groundbreaking tournament for the game.
“As squad this is where we want to be, playing the best teams in the world, in fantastic rugby stadiums as we continue on our journey and build for the 2025 World Cup in England.
“Building and improving our game and developing the strength of our squad is a key for us. We know all about New Zealand after the recent World Cup and that time together gave is a real impetus for what we achieved in the 2023 Six Nations.”
Wales WXV Fixtures.
- Canada v Wales, Saturday, October 21st, Sky Stadium, Wellington (KO: 4pm local time)
- New Zealand v Wales, Saturday, 28th, Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin (KO: 4pm local time)
- Australia v Wales, Friday, November 3rd, Go Media Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland (KO: 7pm local time)
