History of 6 Nations
The year after the World Cup is always very interesting, because it starts a new cycle of team formation. Maybe it sounds very far away now, but time passes quickly and literally as you say “Leskovac ushtipak” there is the World Cup in Australia in 2027 . The world’s best teams leave nothing to chance and are already starting to prepare, form and play teams. Rugby is such a sport, where you have to plan all activities in advance in order to achieve the desired result, if you put yourself in a situation where you think short-term, you will find yourself in a big problem.
The first opportunity for the best European selections is the prestigious 6 Nations competition. This will be the official 130th season. The first competition took place in 1883 year, when it was in a format with 4 teams and when it was called the Home Nations Cup of United Kingdom. The first expansion to the 5 Nations was in 1910 when France joined the competition. However, the French were excluded in 1932 . The last 4 Nations tournament took place in 1939 which was followed by a break due to World War II. The tournament continued in 1947 године with the addition of France, and the five-nation format was held until 1999 . Already in 2000 Italy was added, and since then the name has been changed to 6 nations. The format has not changed until today.
Winners of the 6 Nations competition
In order to properly track who has conquered the 6 Nations and how many times throughout history, we must draw your attention to several important factors. In previous years, you had two or several teams sharing the title of conqueror. The last time such a situation happened was in 1988 when France and Wales jointly won the competition. However, over time, new rules were introduced, so in 2017 the scoring system was introduced as it is now, with bonus points. We counted both individual and shared victories. In history, it was even known that 3 teams shared the title.
The most successful selections are England and Wales with 39 titles each. They are followed by the French with 26. Behind them are the Irish with 23 and the Scots with 22, while the Italians do not have a single victory. Please note that the number of times you have won the wooden spoon is also counted, i.e. how many times you were last in the competition. The number of times you have won the Grand Slam is also scored. And that is winning the title with all the victories. There, the English are undisputed with 13 Grand Slams won.
Also apart from the competition itself, trophies are awarded at certain matches that have historical importance and are based on important events. A total of 7 such matches are played, where the oldest and most important is the Calcutta Cup, which is played between England and Scotland and has been played since 1879 .
Competition system
A total of 6 national teams are participating in the competition, namely: Italy, France, Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland. The teams play according to the system each with each other. Five rounds are played, a total of 15 matches. In a 5-round system, some teams will always play 3 games at home, while some will play two. And that can be a crucial advantage in sports like rugby. So the competition system is divided into two years. France, Ireland and Wales have the home field advantage every even year, while Italy, England and Scotland have the home field advantage every odd year.
4 points are awarded for each win, 2 points for a draw, and no points are awarded for a loss. However, you can set aside bonus points if you score 4 or more essays in victory. You can earn up to 2 bonus points. You win one bonus point if you are defeated with 7 or less points, and another if you have scored more than four tries. If one of the teams wins the Grand Slam, they will receive three more bonus points at the end of the competition.
At the very end, the points are added up and the table is calculated based on how many points you have won. In the event that there was no Grand Slam and the two teams are tied at the end of the competition, the total point difference is calculated. The team with a greater point difference wins the competition.
Who has the best chance of winning the 6 Nations this season?
It’s always interesting to see the balance of power in all teams. Competitions are already traditionally uncertain. Ireland is defending the trophy won last season. When we look at the last 4 seasons, we have 4 different winners. The Scots are always in the top half but have never won the 6 Nations. The last time they triumphed was in 1999 when the tournament was played with 5 teams. Italy has never won the competition.
As for the bookmaker, the first favorite is France, although they will be without Dupont and Ntamak. But they will play games against Ireland and England at home. The second favorite is Ireland, who will defend the trophy won last season. Also, the Irish will play three matches at home. The English are the third favorite and according to some, they have a pretty good schedule this year. The Scots are fourth favorites on paper even though they have an excellent team. Next come the Welsh and finally the Italians. Don’t be surprised if there are more drastic changes in the table, all teams are playing superbly and at a high level, so it is possible that there will be surprises.
How can you watch 6 nations?
Arena Sport will broadcast all 6 nations mathes. On the Arena website, you can see when the matches will be played and on which channels. Expect some very interesting articles on their site as well. An ideal opportunity to follow the matches live with our commentators. We remind you that it is very important that rugby is broadcast on cable channels and that it is available to the wider population.
How will we vover up the 6 nations?
Rugby Round Table and Blog
As you had the opportunity to see at the World Cup, we will see off 6 nations in a similar format. Expect a lot of articles and a lot of writing. Also, the Rugby Round Table has been convened again, this time with 10 rugby players, who will share their knowledge and thoughts for you. It is planned that we will publish three articles of the Round Table in total, one will be an introduction to the competition, one will be published after the second round and the last one will be published at the very end. As for the blog articles, we will try to be very current and up-to-date, where we will cover each round with articles and interesting things for all rugby fans.
We will also have a reporter on site, who will report directly from the Scotland – England match and who will analyze the match especially for rugby fans in Serbia.
Results and table
On our website, you can see the dates of the matches, you can follow all the results and the table. They will be very up-to-date and we will do our best to always convey information in a timely manner.
Podcast
We will also be current with a podcast, where we will analyze and talk about all the matches and all the interesting topics around the 6 nations in the studio. Expect us to be a bit more active with filming, we plan to do a show after each round. The premiere episode of the 6 Nations announcement is ready and will be released on the YouTube channel Sport Uživo. Also, the podcast called The ball doesn’t have to be round was made in cooperation with Sport Uživo and the Rugby.rs portal. We will not reveal the guests yet, you will have the opportunity to meet them in the first show, which will be released on Tuesday at 19:00.
The social network
If you want to be informed and find out more, you can always follow us on social networks. You have links to them in the footer of our site. On social networks, you will be able to follow all the content related to the 6 nations that we plan to publish. Also, apart from that, you will have the opportunity to find out almost all the information from domestic rugby. In addition to our accounts, we recommend that you follow the account on Instagram “Serbian rugby network” where you can find huge content if you want to follow everything related to rugby.
Rugby Fantasy
For many years now, a few of us have been playing official Fantasy on the 6 Nations site. We advise you to join as soon as possible, while there are still places. The league we play in is Rugby Serbia, i.e. under serial number 119, if you need an invitation link to the game, you can find it here.
