North v South - the battle for global supremacy is tighter than ever

North v South - the battle for global supremacy is tighter than everImage source, BBC SportImage caption, Scotland's Finn Russell and New Zealand's Ardie Savea will be two of the superstars to collide in the Nations ChampionshipByMike HensonBBC Sport rugby union news reporterPublished5 minutes agoThe scoreline is emphatic: 9-1 and counting.When it comes to Rugby World Cups, nine of the 10 have been lifted by southern hemisphere hands.Only Jonny Wilkinson's extra-time drop-goal for England in the 2003 final stands between the south and a clean sweep of global glory.So, a new Test competition pitting one half of the globe against the other will be long-haul, but intrigue-short. Won't it?Perhaps not.The Nations Championship, which begins this weekend, might be a concept arriving at the perfect time.What is the Nations Championship?To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.This video can not be playedFigure caption, How does the Nations Championship work?First, a quick recap.The Nations Championship pits the northern hemisphere teams who compete in the Six Nations - England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy - against southern hemisphere giants South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, plus invited sides Fiji and Japan.The geographically observant will note that Japan is actually about 2,500 miles north of the equator, so doesn't sit in the southern hemisphere. But the sport is rolling with it, somewhat in the spirit of Australia's participation in Eurovision.All teams will play each of the six in the opposing hemisphere once, with three rounds of fixtures staged in July and another three in November.Their results will rank the teams within their own hemisphere, from one to six.On the final weekend in November, there is a three-day play-off event staged at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham. The sixth-placed team in the northern hemisphere plays off against the equivalent in the southern hemisphere stand...