Six Nations Championship

The tournament was first played in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship among the four Home Nations — 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.[3][4]

The locations of the Six Nations participants

The tournament begins on the first weekend in February and culminates with Super Saturday on the second or third Saturday in March. The format of the Championship is simple: each team plays every other team once (making a total of 15 matches), with home ground advantage alternating from one year to the next. Prior to 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 the bonus point system had not previously been used.

On 30 November 2016, the Six Nations Committee announced that a bonus point system would be trialled 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), with the only difference being that a Grand Slam winner will be given 3 extra points to ensure they finish top of the table.

Prior to 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.[5] To date, however, match points and points difference have been sufficient to decide the championship.

Also, the team that finishes at the bottom of the league table is said to have won the Wooden Spoon, although no actual trophy is given to the team. A team that has lost all five matches is said to have been whitewashed. Since the inaugural Six Nations tournament in 2000, only England and Ireland have avoided the Wooden Spoon award. Italy are the holders of the most Wooden Spoon awards in the Six Nations era with 14, and have been whitewashed nine times. However, each of the other five nations has accumulated more than that through competing in previous eras.

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

As of the 2019 competition, Six Nations matches are held in the following stadia:

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,[16] because of frustrations with their tenancy of Stade de France.[17] However the project was cancelled in December 2016.[18] France played their 2018 match against Italy at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.

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.[19] 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,[20] 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.[19] 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,[21] which also takes responsibility for the British and Irish Lions tours. Benjamin Morel became the CEO of the Six Nations Championship as of 5 November 2018,[22][23][24] replacing John Feehan, who stepped down on 20 April 2018.[25][26]

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.[27] 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.[28]

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 acquired 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.[29] 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 a 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.[30][31]

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 2018–2021.[32]

France Télévisions covered the competition in France.[33]

In Italy, from 2014 to 2017 DMAX of Discovery Communications broadcast all matches, and will do so until 2021.

In the United States, NBC Sports broadcasts matches in English and TV5 Monde airs matches in French.[34] In Wales, S4C also broadcasts matches featuring the Welsh team shown by the BBC in Welsh.

Participating nations

Country	Broadcaster	Summary
England	BBC Sport ITV Sport	All home games from France, Scotland, and Wales on BBC One until 2021. All home games from England, Ireland, and Italy on ITV/STV until 2021.
Scotland
Wales
	S4C	Wales games in the Welsh language
France	France 2	All games.
Ireland	Virgin Media One	All games until 2021.
Italy	DMAX	All games until 2021

Non-participating nations

Country/region	Broadcaster
International	TV5Monde (France games only)
Albania	DigitAlb
Kosovo
Asia (exclude West)	RugbyPass
Australia	beIN Sports
Middle East and North Africa  Algeria  Chad  Comoros  Djibouti  Iran  Iraq  Jordan  Kuwait  Lebanon  Libya  Mauritania  Morocco  Oman  Palestine  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  Somalia  Sudan  Syria  Tunisia  United Arab Emirates  Yemen
Balkans  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Croatia  Montenegro  North Macedonia  Serbia	Arena Sport
Baltics  Estonia  Latvia  Lithuania	TV3 Sport
Canada	DAZN
DACH  Austria  Germany   Switzerland
	ProSieben Maxx[35]
Caribbean	ESPN
South America  Argentina  Bolivia  Brazil  Chile  Colombia  Ecuador  Paraguay  Peru  Uruguay  Venezuela
Czech Republic	Nova Sport
Slovakia
Fiji	FBC
Georgia	Rugby TV
Malta	GO
Netherlands	Ziggo Sport
New Zealand	Sky Sport
Nordics  Denmark  Finland  Norway  Sweden	NENT
Poland	NC+
Portugal	Sport TV
Romania	Telekom Romania
Russia	Match TV
Slovenia	Šport TV
Spain	Movistar Deportes
Sub-Saharan Africa	SuperSport
United States	NBC Sports

Until 1998, the Championship had no title sponsor. Sponsorship rights were sold to Lloyds TSB for the 1999 tournament and the competition was titled the Lloyds TSB 5 Nations and Lloyds TSB 6 Nations until 2002.[36]

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.[37] However, after struggling to find a new sponsor, organisers agreed a one-year extension with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group at a reduced rate. As the RBS initials brand was being phased out, the tournament was named after banking subsidiary NatWest, becoming the Natwest 6 Nations.[38]

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.[39][n 1]

• Six Nations Under 20s Championship
• Women's Six Nations Championship
• British Home Championship (a similar tournament in association football)
• The Rugby Championship, an analogous tournament of national teams in the Southern Hemisphere