Corporate Hospitality

How the “Six Nations Championship” was formed

The first Rugby Union International was played by England and Scotland, in 1871. It wasn´t until 12 years later that Wales and Ireland joined the battle, when the Home International Championship began.

The oldest rugby championship in the world, the Six Nations Championship, dates back to 1882. Originally held between the four Home Nations England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

The French officially joined the competition in 1910, so the term “Five Nations” was declared. However, they were ejected from the competition in 1931 and so reverted to being the “Home Nations“ competition from 1932 to 1939.

In 1947, after World War II, the Five Nations resumed, with France back in the competition.

Italy joined the competition in 2000 and so the tournament became known as the “Six Nations Championship”.

The History of the “Six Nations” Game

In 1882, England travelled to Swansea and beat Wales by two goals and four tries to none, sparking a festival of rugby that has since become the pride of the northern hemisphere. Known in the early days as the International Championship - with only England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland competing - it was far less organised than the modern tournament. There was no points system, for example. Instead, teams were judged simply on whether they won or lost.

England and Scotland were the most successful teams in the early days, but by the mid-1890s the Welsh had developed an impressive side and a new system that would alter the face of the game. This “four three-quarter” system came into its own in 1893 when Wales became champions for the first time, winning rugby's “invisible trophy”, the Triple Crown - beating all three other home nations.

Their success showed the other Home Union sides that the six backs/nine forwards game would no longer be effective against the Welsh system and four threequarters became the norm at national and club level.

By 1900 all of the four Home teams had found success at a game that was rapidly growing in popularity.

In the first decade of the 20th century, Wales were the team to beat. Unbeaten at home between 1900 and 1913, they won six outright titles before England staged a revival that coincided with the 1910 opening of the RFU's new home at Twickenham. The very first international at Twickenham brought England success over Wales, and heralded a golden era for English rugby.

France joined the competition in 1910 and, despite their later dominance, they struggled at first to achieve any notable success. They did however, coin the phrase ‘five nations’. In their first four years of entry, the French won just one game - a one point victory over Scotland in 1911.

The tournament was put on hold until 1920, due to the war and the inter-war years were dominated by England as they swept to nine championship victories, including five Grand Slams.

Scotland collected their first Grand Slam in 1925, with an emphatic win against England at Murrayfield. In 1926, Scotland became the first Home Union side to defeat England at Twickenham after England had won the Grand Slam (winning the Triple Crown AND beating the French) five times in eight seasons.

France continued to struggle and in 1931 the inadequacies of the French game´s administration and the discovery that a number of their players had been paid at club level, forced them to pull out of the tournament. Due to this, the championship became an entirely domestic affair for eight years and France rejoined in 1939-40, with the outbreak of World War Two delaying their re-entry for a further eight years.

War again meant the curtailment of the championship in 1940. But when it resumed in 1947 it marked the beginning of a new rugby order.

In the early post-war seasons, Ireland hit the front, taking three outright titles including consecutive Triple Crowns in 1948 and 1949.

France shared the title in 1954 and 1955 and the “Tricolores” won it outright in 1959, driven by stars such as the inspirational lock forward Lucien Mias, fullback Pierre Lacaze and flanker Francois Moncla. They were champions for four years in a row from 1959 to 1962 and in 1968 won their first Grand Slam.

The 1970's brought mixed fortunes for both the Championship and the teams. In 1972 the tournament could not be completed after Scotland and Wales refused to play in Dublin because of the escalating political problems. And the following year the tournament finished with a unique five way tie - every country having won and lost two games.

For Wales, however, the 1970s will be remembered as the golden era of Welsh rugby. They finished the decade with three Grand Slams and one Triple Crown and were led by legendary players such as fullback JPR Williams and scrum-half Gareth Edwards. The Welsh side were absolutely unstoppable. Only an outstanding French side prevented them from adding to the three Grand Slams achieved in this decade. England struggled throughout the 1970s and most of the following decade - their only relief being Bill Beaumont's Grand Slam winning side of 1980. Instead, it was France who dominated, winning the title outright three times, including two Grand Slams in 1981 and 1987.

In 1984, Scotland won their first Grand Slam for 59 years and Ireland scooped the title 12 months later. They have not won it since.

The dominance of England and France during the 1990's brought criticism that the championship was not offering a high enough standard of competition. The response was to bring an end to the historic format by asking Italy to join in 2000.

In a Celtic revival 1999 saw Scotland take the championship and Wales finished third, having defeated both England and France and in 2000 and 2001, England claimed the tournament - but only after losing their final games against Scotland and Ireland respectively.

Italy, meanwhile, started the newly christened Six Nations championship superbly, winning their opening game against Scotland in Rome and in 2007 had their best tournament yet finishing forth with back to back wins against Scotland and Wales.

France then entered a purple patch winning in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007 with only England in 2003 (their world cup winning year) and Wales in 2005 succeeding to break up what would have been a significant period of French domination. In fact in 2007 they only lost once, against England.

Wales put a poor world cup well and truly behind them by winning the grand slam in 2008.

List of winners
2008	Wales
2007	France
2006	France
2005	Wales
2004	France
2003	England
2002	France
2001	England
2000	England
1999	Scotland
1998	France
1997	France
1996	England
1995	England
1994	Wales
1993	France
1992	England
1991	England

Year by Year analysys 2008
Country	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Wales	5	0	0	148	66	10
England	3	0	2	108	83	6
France	3	0	2	103	93	6
Ireland	2	0	3	93	99	4
Scotland	1	0	4	69	123	2
Italy	1	0	4	74	131	2

Saturday 2nd February 2008
England	19 – 26	Wales
Ireland	16 – 11	Italy
Sunday 3rd February 2008
Scotland	6 – 27	France
Saturday 9th February 2008
France	26 – 21	Ireland
Wales	30 – 15	Scotland
Sunday 10th February 2008
Italy	19 – 23	England
Saturday 23rd February 2008
France	13 – 24	England
Ireland	34 – 13	Scotland
Wales	47 – 8	Italy
Saturday 8th March 2008
Ireland	12 – 16	Wales
Scotland	15 – 9	England
Sunday 9th March 2008
France	25 – 13	Italy
Saturday 15th March 2008
England	33 – 10	Ireland
Italy	23 – 20	Scotland
Wales	29 – 12	France

Year by Year analysys 2007
Country	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
France	4	0	1	155	86	8
Ireland	4	0	1	149	84	8
England	3	0	2	119	115	6
Italy	2	0	3	94	147	4
Wales	1	0	4	86	113	2
Scotland	1	0	4	95	153	2

France, Ireland and England were tied on six points each at the top of the Six Nations table before the final weekend, and the Irish kicked off with a 51-24 victory over Italy, meaning France needed to beat Scotland by at least 24 points.

Vermeulen's try for France in the dying seconds took the margin to 27 points and left England needing a massive win over Wales to deny France their fourth title in six years, but Brian Ashton's side lost 27-18 in Cardiff ensuring France as champions.

Once again Ireland miss out on points differential, this time as a result of a final French try scored in the last minute of their game against Scotland.

Saturday 3rd February 2007
Italy	03 – 39	France
England	42 – 20	Scotland
Sunday 4th February 2007
Wales	09 – 19	Ireland
Saturday 10th February 2007
England	20 – 07	Italy
Scotland	21 – 09	Wales
Sunday 11th February 2007
Ireland	17 – 20	France
Saturday 24th February 2007
Scotland	17 – 37	Italy
Ireland	43 – 13	England
France	32 – 21	Wales
Saturday 10th March 2007
Scotland	18 – 19	Ireland
Italy	23 – 20	Wales
Sunday 11th March 2007
England	26 – 18	France
Saturday 17th March 2007
Italy	24 – 51	Ireland
France	46 – 19	Scotland
Wales	27 – 18	England

Year by Year analysys 2006
Country	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
France	4	0	1	148	85	8
Ireland	4	0	1	131	97	8
Scotland	3	0	2	78	81	6
England	2	0	3	120	106	4
Wales	1	1	3	80	135	3
Italy	0	1	4	72	125	1

Saturday 25th February 2006
Ireland	26 – 16	Italy
England	47 – 13	Wales
Sunday 5th February 2006
Scotland	20 – 16	France
Saturday 11th February 2006
France	43 – 31	Ireland
Italy	16 – 31	England
Sunday 12th February 2006
Wales	28 – 18	Scotland
Saturday 25th February 2006
France	37 – 12	Italy
Scotland	18 – 12	England
Sunday 26th February 2006
Ireland	31 – 5	Wales
Saturday 11th March 2006
Wales	18 – 18	Italy
Ireland	15 – 09	Scotland
Sunday 12th March 2006
France	31 – 06	England
Saturday 18th March 2006
Italy	10 – 13	Scotland
Wales	16 – 21	France
England	24 – 28	Ireland