The Six Nations is an annual tournament where the greatest European Rugby countries are active. Every year, all of these countries play each other once. There is a changeover every year, so you play at home one year and away the next year. The participating countries of the six-country tournament are England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France and Italy. Order your Six Nations tickets for the 2019 tournament and experience the spectacle live!
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.
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:
The most recent winner of the Six Nations Championship is Ireland. This country won the Grand Slam, which means that they have won all their matches of the Six Nations 2018 tournament.
Record winner of the Six Nations Championship is England. However, they are closely followed by Wales, who have not been able to win the tournament since 2013. Italy has never won the six-country 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'.
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.