The Six Nations Rugby Union Show of 2019
This year will see the 20th Six Nations Rugby Union Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations as it is sponsored by Guinness) … known also as the annual northern hemisphere championship.
Contested as usual by France, England, Italy, Scotland, Wales and defending champions Ireland, it will be the 125th edition of the ‘rugby’ tournament overall which was first contested way back in 1883.
The first three matches this year will feature France against Wales at St. Denis on 1st February, followed 24 hours later by Scotland-Italy at Murrayfield and reigning champions Ireland v. England in Dublin.
A week on February 9 it will be Scotland-Ireland and Italy v. Wales (in Rome) and the following day England play France at Twickenham.
And then, a fortnight later, it will be France-Scotland and Wales-England (in Cardiff) on 23rd Feb, with Italy taking on Ireland the very next day.
Looking ahead, the Calcutta Cup game (England v. Scotland) will be played on 16th March at Twickenham.
Fact File
■ Invariably the respective stadiums will be full with Twickenham, London, able to cater for 82,000 fans, followed by Stade de France, St Denis (81,338), Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (74,500), Stadio Olympico, Rome (73,261), Murrayfield, Edinburgh (67,144) and the Aviva Stadium, Dublin (51,700).
■England have won this championship (5/6 Nations) outright on 28 occasions (with the addition of 10 shared victories). They have a record 13 Grand Slam titles to their credit and 25 Triple Crown victories, making them the most successful team in the tournament's history. Their last Grand Slam came in 2016.
■ Wales have been overall champions on 26 occasions (plus 11 shared) while also registering 11 Grand Slams. France have 16 outright championship wins under their belt (plus 8 shared) and nine Grand Slams. Ireland have claimed 14 titles (with another 9 shared) plus three Grand Slams. Scotland also have 14 wins to their credit (plus 8 shared) and three Grand Slams, while Italy have yet to win the championship.
■Biggest wins for each nation (in terms of points scored)… England 80 Italy 23 in 2001; Wales 67 Italy 14 in 2016; Ireland 63 Italy 10 in 2017, Scotland 38 Ireland 10 in 1997; France 51 Wales 0 in 1998 and Italy 23 France 18 in 2013.
• The players who have scored most points in Six Nations Rugby are: Ronan O’Gara (Ireland) with 557; Jonny Wilkinson (England) 546 and Stephen Jones (Wales) 467.
■ And for the record, England were the first winners of the initial ‘5’ Nations tournament played back in 1883, while the French were the victors of the first ‘6’ Nations competition in 1993.