Six Nations Championship

The tournament was first played in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship among the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom – England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. However, England was excluded from the 1888 and 1889 tournaments due to their refusal to join the International Rugby Football Board. The tournament then became the Five Nations Championship in 1910 with the addition of France. The tournament was expanded in 2000 to become the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy.

Following the relative success of the Tier 2 nations in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, there were calls by Octavian Morariu, the president of Rugby Europe, to let Georgia and Romania join the Six Nations due to their consistent success in the European Nations Cup and ability to compete in the Rugby World Cup.[2][3]

The locations of the Six Nations participants

The tournament begins on the first weekend in February and culminates on the second or third Saturday in March. Each team plays every other team once (a total of 15 matches), with home ground advantage alternating from one year to the next. Before the 2017 tournament, two points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. Unlike many other rugby union competitions, a bonus point system had not previously been used.

A bonus point system was first used in the 2017 Championship. The system is similar to the one used in most rugby championships (0 points for a loss, 2 for a draw, 4 for a win, 1 for scoring four or more tries in a match, and 1 for losing by 7 points or fewer). The only difference is that a team that wins all their games (a Grand Slam) are automatically awarded 3 extra points - to ensure they cannot be overtaken by a defeated team on bonus points.

Before 1994, teams equal on match points shared the championship. Since then, ties have been broken by considering the points difference (total points scored minus total points conceded) of the teams. The rules of the championship further provide that if teams tie on both match points and points difference, the team that scored the most tries wins the championship. Were this decider to be a tie, the tying teams would share the championship.[4] To date, however, match points and points difference have been sufficient to decide the championship.

The Wooden Spoon is a metaphorical award given to the team that finishes in last place, or alternatively by a team that loses all of its games in a championship.[5] Since the inaugural Six Nations tournament in 2000, only England and Ireland have avoided finishing last. Italy have finished last 15 times in the Six Nations era, and have lost every match 11 times.

Home advantage in the Six Nations

	Three home matches			Two home matches
Even years	France v England v Ireland v Italy	Ireland v Italy v Scotland v Wales	Wales v France v Italy v Scotland	England v Ireland v Wales	Italy v England v Scotland	Scotland v England v France
Odd years	England v France v Italy v Scotland	Italy v France v Ireland v Wales	Scotland v Ireland v Italy v Wales	France v Scotland v Wales	Ireland v England v France	Wales v England v Ireland

The national rugby union stadiums of the six countries host the events.

As of the 2021 competition, Six Nations matches are held in the following stadiums:

The opening of Aviva Stadium in May 2010 ended the arrangement with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) that allowed the all-Ireland governing body for rugby union, the Irish Rugby Football Union, to use the GAA's flagship stadium, Croke Park, for its international matches. This arrangement was made necessary by the 2007 closure and subsequent demolition of Ireland's traditional home at Lansdowne Road; Aviva Stadium was built on the former Lansdowne Road site. During this construction, Croke Park was the largest of the Six Nations grounds, with a capacity of 82,300.

In 2012 Italy moved their home games from the 32,000 seat Stadio Flaminio, to Stadio Olimpico, also in Rome, with a capacity of 72,000.

The French Rugby Federation (FFR) had planned to build a new stadium of its own, seating 82,000 in the southern suburbs of Paris,[17] because of frustrations with their tenancy of Stade de France.[18] However the project was cancelled in December 2016.[19] France played their 2018 match against Italy at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.[20]

In 2020, Wales played their final game at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli due to the Millennium Stadium being used as Dragon's Heart Hospital in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[21]

Ronan O'Gara of Ireland holds the career scoring record with 557 points. England's Jonny Wilkinson currently holds the records for individual points in one match (35 points against Italy in 2001) and one season with 89 (scored in 2001).

The record for tries in a match is held by Scotsman George Lindsay who scored five tries against Wales in 1887.[23] England's Cyril Lowe and Scotland's Ian Smith jointly hold the record for tries in one season with 8 (Lowe in 1914, Smith in 1925). Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll has the Championship record for tries with 26.

The record for appearances is held by Sergio Parisse of Italy, with 69 appearances,[24] since his Six Nations debut in 2004.

The most points scored by a team in one match was 80 points, scored by England against Italy in 2001. England also scored the most ever points in a season in 2001 with 229, and most tries in a season with 29.[23] Wales hold the record for fewest tries conceded during a season in the Six Nations era, conceding only 2 in 5 games in 2008, but the 1977 Grand Slam-winning France team did not concede a try in their four matches. Wales hold the record for the longest time without conceding a try, at 358 minutes in the 2013 tournament.

The Championship is run from headquarters in Dublin, Ireland by Six Nations Rugby Ltd.[25] Benjamin Morel became the CEO of the Six Nations Championship as of 5 November 2018,[26][27][28] replacing John Feehan, who stepped down on 20 April 2018.[29][30]

The BBC has long covered the tournament in the United Kingdom, broadcasting all matches apart from England home matches between 1997 and 2002, which were shown live by Sky Sports with highlights on the BBC. In addition, Welsh language coverage of broadcasts matches featuring the Welsh team shown by the BBC are shown on S4C in Wales in the United Kingdom.[31] Between 2003 and 2015, the BBC covered every match live on BBC Sport either on BBC One or BBC Two with highlights also on the BBC Sport website and either on the BBC Red Button or late at night on BBC Two. In 2011, it was announced that the BBC's coverage of the tournament on TV, radio and online would be extended to 2017.[32]

On 9 July 2015, in reaction to bids by Sky for the rights beginning in 2018, the BBC ended its contract two seasons early, and renegotiated a joint contract with ITV Sport for rights to the Six Nations from 2016 through 2021. ITV acquired rights to England, Ireland and Italy home matches, while the BBC retained rights to France, Scotland and Wales home matches. By ending its contract early, the BBC saved around £30 million, while the new contract generated £20 million in additional revenue for the Six Nations.[33]

With the end of the contract nearing, speculation once again emerged in 2020 that Sky was pursuing rights to the Six Nations from 2022 onward; under the Ofcom "listed events" rules, rights to the tournament can be held by a pay television channel if delayed broadcasts or highlights are made available on free-to-air television. It was reported that the bid for CVC Equity Partners to purchase a stake in the Six Nations was being hindered by a desire for a more lucrative broadcast contract; a call for the Six Nations to be moved to Category A (which requires live coverage to air free-to-air) was rejected.[34][35] In May 2021, the BBC and ITV renewed their contracts through 2025. The BBC will continue to broadcast home matches from Scotland and Wales and all women's and under-20s matches, with ITV airing England, France, Ireland and Italy home matches.[36][37]

In Ireland, RTÉ have broadcast the championship since RTÉ's inception and continued to do so until 2017, while TG4 televised highlights. However, in late 2015 RTÉ's free-to-air rival TV3 was awarded the rights for every game from the Six Nations on Irish television from 2018 to 2021.[38] In 2022 it was announced that RTÉ and Virgin Media would share broadcasting rights.[39]

France Télévisions covered the competition in France.[40]

In Italy, from 2022 TV8 and Sky Italia broadcast all matches.

In the United States, NBC Sports broadcasts matches in English and TV5 Monde airs matches in French.[41]

Country	Broadcaster	Summary
UK	BBC Sport ITV Sport	All home games from Scotland and Wales on BBC One until 2025. All home games from England, France, Ireland and Italy on ITV/STV until 2025.
	S4C	Wales games shown by BBC in the Welsh language
France	France 2	All games
Republic of Ireland	RTÉ Virgin Media Television	All games until 2025
Italy	Sky Italia	All games from 2022

Until 1998, the Championship had no title sponsor. Sponsorship rights were sold to Lloyds TSB Group for the 1999 tournament and the competition was titled the Lloyds TSB 5 Nations and Lloyds TSB 6 Nations until 2002.[42]

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group took over sponsorship from 2003 until 2017, with the competition being branded the RBS 6 Nations. A new title sponsor was sought for the 2018 tournament and beyond.[43] However, after struggling to find a new sponsor, organisers agreed a one-year extension at a reduced rate. As the RBS brand was being phased out, the tournament was named after the NatWest banking subsidiary, becoming the NatWest 6 Nations.[44]

On 7 December 2018, Guinness was announced as the Championship's new title sponsor, with the competition to be named the Guinness Six Nations from 2019 to 2024.[45] Due to the Loi Évin laws which prohibit alcohol sponsorship in sport, "Guinness" cannot be used as part of the branding of the tournament in France. The French-language logo for the tournament replaces the Guinness logo with the word "Greatness" in the same color and typeface as the Guinness wordmark.[46][47]

• The Rugby Championship, an analogous tournament of national teams in the Southern Hemisphere
• Rugby Europe International Championships, for second- and third-tier national teams in Europe
• Six Nations Under 20s Championship
• Women's Six Nations Championship
• British Home Championship, a similar tournament in association football

• Godwin, Terry (1984). The International Rugby Championship 1883–1983. London: Willows Books. ISBN 978-0-00-218060-3.
• Starmer-Smith, Nigel, ed. (1986). Rugby – A Way of Life, An Illustrated History of Rugby. Lennard Books. ISBN 978-0-7126-2662-0.
• Narz, Naomi, ed. (2019). Rugby – Wales and United States Connection, A showing of LDR feats in sport. Rich Books.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Six Nations Championship.

• Official website