The event will begin on November 14 – two weeks after the conclusion of the postponed Six Nations tournament, which still has four matches to be played.

Joining the Six Nations sides of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France and Italy will be Fiji and rising talent Japan.

There will be two groups with each playing the other countries in their pool once, with official schedules and confirmation of the venues expected in August.

England will host Ireland and Fiji in one group at Twickenham, while a match against Wales will take place at an unconfirmed venue.

In the other pool, Scotland will host Japan and France at Murrayfield, before playing away to Italy in Rome.

The tournament will be staged on four consecutive weekends until December 5, with each team playing a final match against their opposite from the other pool.

If Wales finished top of the first group and France top of the second group, they will play each other in the final, with second place teams doing the same as well as third and fourth.

This means that Scotland's autumn matches against Argentina and New Zealand have been cancelled.

When the Six Nations resumes after its postponement in March, Scotland will play Wales, Ireland will play France and England will play Italy in the final round on October 31.

Ireland and Italy will play a week before as the remaining tie from round four of five.

It is not yet known whether fans will be allowed to attend the Six Nations, but the Rugby Football Union (RFU) – the governing body for English rugby union – hopes that the new tournament will allow spectators.

It comes after RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said last month that the governing body were looking to host up to 40,000 fans at the Twickenham tests, pending Government approval.