The Six Nations is an annual international rugby tournament played by six teams: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and France. The tournament starts on the first weekend of February and usually ends on the second or third week of March. Each team plays every other team once. This makes a total of 15 matches played in the Six Nations. The team with the most points at the end wins the tournament.
Brief History
The Six Nations started in 1883. In the beginning, it was called the Home Nations because only England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland featured in the tournament. After France joined the tournament in 1910, it became the Five Nations. It became the Six Nations in 2000 when Italy was included in the tournament.
Scoring
The scoring system is as follows:
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- win = four points (winning by four or more tries = five points)
- draw = two points (a team that scores four or more tries in a draw will get an extra point)
- loss (by seven points or fewer) = one point
- loss (by more than seven points but scoring more four or more tries = one point)
- loss (by more than seven points and not scoring four or more tries) = zero points
- The team that beats all other teams wins the Grand Slam and is awarded an extra three points.
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For example, one of the most thrilling matches in the 2021 Six Nations was between Scotland and France, where Scotland stole the win by scoring a try in the final minutes of the match. Here is a breakdown of the points earned by each team.
France (23 points)
- Try x3
- Conversion x1
- Penalty x2
Scotland (27 points)
- Try x3
- Conversion x3
- Penalty x2
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