The Nations Cup will not have a championship game, but it will have a champion ... actually two.
The winner will be the team with the best record in each pools, and right now the teams with the best record are Georgia (3-0, and 14 standings points) and the USA (3-0, 14). But there will be plenty of teams challenging for that top spot if either of those teams slip in the November matches.
Portugal, who are European champs and lost to the USA only by a single point, are right there, while Chile, at 2-0, it right there, too.
Here more of what we have to say about this competition in the video:
But win or lose for all of these teams, the competition guarantees six meaningful rankings test matches that are for a trophy. It gives these teams a baseline of matches. For the USA, these games, plus the non-rankings matches this summer and fall, provide up to 10 games for the national team.
The tournament is every two years, and that's so the Rugby World Cup and British & Irish Lions tours don't compete. But it's also to allow for World Cup qualification, if needed, and for more traditional tours in those off-years.
