The Six Nations Championship is an international rugby union competition held every year between the six European nations including England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales. All of the six countries are also the six highest-ranked teams in the European continent. Even though participating in the championship is totally based on the historical membership and not by the ranking. Currently, Wales are the Champions as they won the tournament last year.
The 2020 Six Nations Championship (also popular by the name "Guinness Six Nations" for the purpose of sponsorship) is going be the 21st Six Nations Championship. It will be held starting from 1st February 2020 till 14th March 2020.
The Six Nations tournament always starts on the first weekend of February and ends with the Super Saturday on the second or the third Saturday in the month of March. The Championship has a simple format, i.e., each of the six teams will be playing every other team only once. Hence a total of 15 matches will take place. And the Home ground advantage that will alternate from one year to the next one.
All the Six Nations matches will be telecasted live on the BBC or ITV. The matches of Wales will be telecasted on S4C. While FR2 will show the broadcast in France, TV3 in Ireland and DMAX in Italy. In the United States, NBC will be broadcasting every game.
When it comes to buying the tickets to the Six Nations, it is going to be a difficult task. This is because the demand is so much more than the supply. Especially the big matches like the ones between England and Ireland or England and Wales. The tickets for these matches get sold out several months before.
The Six Nations is the successor to the Home Nations Championship. The Home Nations Championship was held between the year 1883–1909 and between 1932–39. The Championship was played between the teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. This was the very first international rugby union tournament.
With the addition of France, this became the Five Nations Championship (1910–31 and 1947–99), which in turn became the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy. The Six Nations era began in the year 2000. Only Italy has not been able to win the Six Nations title yet.
Before the 2017 tournament, the team used to get two points for a win, one point for a draw and no points in case of a loss. The bonus point system was not used earlier unlike the other rugby union competitions.
The winners of the Six Nations Championship are awarded the Championship Trophy. After the previous trophy, The new trophy was made that had been designed by Thomas Lyte silversmiths. The Trophy had replaced the 1993 edition trophy. This trophy has been retired because it used to represent only the five nations that participated in the Five Nations Championship.
The last team to win the previous trophy was Ireland. Coincidentally, Ireland is also the first team that has won the new trophy. Interestingly, if a team wins all the games, then it is presented with the 'Grand Slam'. There is also the Triple Crown. It can only be won if a team wins all three matches against the other teams. This can only be won by the Home nations including England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Many individual competitions are also played under the tournament. Some of the trophies are also given for the friendly matches between the two teams outside of the Six Nations Championship.
Wales are the champions of 2019. They have won all the five games in 2019. This also means that Wales has victoriously claimed the Grand Slam (for winning over every team) as well as the Triple Crown (for winning over the other 'Home Nations', including England, Scotland, and Ireland).
The Grand Slam has been won for a total of 39 times. The first Grand Slam was won by Wales in the year 1908. The last Grand Slam was also won by Wales in the year 2019. England has won the most number of Grand Slams. England has won 13 Grand Slams, Wales won 12, France has won 9, Ireland won 3 and Scotland also won 3 Grand Slams in total. Till now, Italy has not been able to win even one Grand Slam.
The fixture schedule for the 2020 Six Nations Championship will start on Saturday, 1st February when Wales will host Italy at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. This will be followed by Ireland versus Scotland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. After this, on Sunday, 2nd February, France will have a match with England at the Stade de France in Paris.
The 2020 Six Nations Championship will be ending on 14th March. All three games will be played on Saturday - popular as the 'Super Saturday' - with France versus Ireland as the final game at 8 pm in Paris.
THE FIXTURES OF THE 2020 SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP:
There will be a total of five rounds.
ROUND 1:
- Wales V Italy
Date: 1st February 2020
Time: 14:15 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
- Ireland V Scotland
Date: 1 February 2020
Time: 16:45 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
- France V England
Date: 2 February 2020
Time: 16:00 CET (UTC+1)
Location: Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
ROUND 2:
- Ireland V Wales
Date: 8 February 2020
Time: 14:15 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
- Scotland V England
Date: 8 February 2020
Time: 16:45 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (France)
- France V Italy
Date: 9 February 2020
Time: 16:00 CET (UTC+1)
Location: Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
ROUND 3:
- Italy V Scotland
Date: 22 February 2020
Time: 15:15 CET (UTC+1)
Location: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
- Wales V France
Date: 22 February 2020
Time: 16:45 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
- England V Ireland
Date: 23 February 2020
Time: 15:00 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Twickenham Stadium, London
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
ROUND 4:
- Ireland V Italy
Date: 7 March 2020
Time: 14:15 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
- England V Wales
Date: 7 March 2020
Time: 16:45 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Twickenham Stadium, London
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
- Scotland V France
Date: 8 March 2020
Time: 15:00 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
ROUND 5:
- Wales V Scotland
Date: 14 March 2020
Time: 14:15 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
- Italy V England
Date: 14 March 2020
Time: 17:45 CET (UTC+1)
Location: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (France)
- France V Ireland
Date: 14 March 2020
Time: 21:00 CET (UTC+1)
Location: Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)Read More:- Virat Kohli, First Indian Captain
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