GENERAL

The Six Nations tournament is the annually recurring Rugby tournament between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, these are of course the 6 nations. The Six Nations Championship originated in 1883 when England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales started their own competition. At the time the tournament was still called 'Home Nations' and therefore consisted of only 4 countries. Not every edition was played between six countries. So, in the beginning, it was four countries. Later, France was added, and the name was at the time changed to the Five Nations tournament. Over the years, rugby became very popular in Italy, so the organisation decided to invite them too. The story goes that Rugby got big in Italy through French students who were studying in Milan, Italy.

The rugby tournament is, as mentioned, played annually. Every year you play once against all countries. If you play at home one year, you play an away match the following year. This fact is unique, because many other sports are often played away and at home during the same tournament. This is different for the Six Nations tournament.

DIFFERENT PRIZES

In the tournament there are several prizes to be won. If one of the countries wins all its matches in an edition of the Six Nations, this is called a Grand Slam.

Furthermore, what is interesting is that cups are awarded to winners of specific competitions. The names of these cups are as follows:

• -         Triple Crown: only possible for one of the Home Nations: the team that defeats all other Home Nations. The home nations are England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
• -         Calcutta Cup: the winner of the match between England and Scotland.
• -         Millennium Trophy: the winner of the match between England and Ireland. (since 1988)
• -         Centenary Quaich: the winner of the match between Ireland and Scotland. (since 1989)
• -         Eurostar Trophy: the winner of the match between France and England. (since 2000)
• -         Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy: the winner of the match between France and Italy. (since 2007)
• -         Auld Alliance Trophy: the winner of the match between France and Scotland. (since 2018)
• -         Wooden Spoon: the country that lost every game of the six-country tournament. In the 2018 edition, it was 'won' by Italy. Even though they lost the last match against Scotland only by a narrow margin. The final score in the Stadio Olimpico was 27-29.

WINNERS SIX NATIONS

The most recent winner of the Six Nations Championship is Wales. This country won the Grand Slam and the Triple Crown, which means that they have won all their matches of the Six Nations 2019 tournament.

Record winner of the Six Nations Championship is England. However, they are closely followed by Wales, who have won the recent edition. Italy has never won the six nations tournament. It should be mentioned that they have only participated in the tournament since 2000. In addition, Italy never managed to progress beyond the group stage at the World Cup. The sport in Italy is not (yet) as big and old as among the 'Home Nations'.

LOCATIONS & STADIUMS

In the past, only 12 stadiums were used for the Six Nations Championship. This means that the stadiums are often used year after year for the rugby matches.

RUGBY WORLD CUP

All the participants of the Six Nations will compete for the Rugby World Cup later this year. See all the matches on the Rugby World Cup page.