The 2012 IRB Nations Cup was the seventh edition of the international rugby union tournament, a competition created by the International Rugby Board.

[1] For the sixth consecutive year the event was held in Bucharest, Romania.

South African Kings did not return to defend their title.

For the first time in the competition's history, host nation Romania won.

The competition format was a modified round-robin whereby there three ENC teams (Romania, Russia and Portugal) played the other three teams (Argentina XV, Italy A and Uruguay).