The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the men's teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament contested by the Home Nations. The championship holders are France, who won the 2026 tournament.
The tournament is organised by the unions of the six participating nations under the banner of Six Nations Rugby, which is responsible for the promotion and operation of the men's, women's and under-20s tournaments, and the Autumn International Series, as well as the negotiation and management of their centralised commercial rights.
The Six Nations is the successor to the Home Nations Championship (1883–1909 and 1932–39), played by teams from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, which was the first international rugby union tournament.Godwin (1984), pg 1. Though only matches involving Ireland could properly be considered international, and only after 1922, all other teams being from entirely within the nation state of the United Kingdom. The first ever Home Nations International Championship was played in 1883. No other Northern Hemisphere team played a recognised international match until France faced New Zealand in 1906 With the addition of France, this became the Five Nations Championship (1910–31 and 1947–99), and the Six Nations Championship with Italy joining in 2000.
England and Wales have won the championship the most times, both with 39 titles, but England have won the most outright titles with 29 (28 for Wales). Since the Six Nations era started in 2000, only Italy and Scotland have failed to win the Six Nations title.
The women's tournament started as the Women's Home Nations in the 1996 season. The men's Six Nations Under 20s Championship is the successor to the Under 21s tournament which began in 2004.
History and expansion The tournament was first played in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship among the then four Home Nations of the United Kingdom – England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. However, England was excluded from the 1888 and 1889 tournaments due to their refusal to join the International Rugby Football Board. The tournament then became the Five Nations Championship in 1910 with the addition of France. The tournament was expanded in 2000 to become the Six Nations Championship with the addition of Italy.
Following the relative success of the Tier 2 nations in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, there were calls by Octavian Morariu, the president of Rugby Europe, to let Georgia and Romania join the Six Nations due to their consistent success in the European Nations Cup and ability to compete in the Rugby World Cup.
From 2024 the series was styled as "M6N" (referring to "Men's 6 Nations"), as a rebranding consistent with the women's competition as "W6N", and the under-20s as "U6N".
Format
The tournament begins on the first weekend in February and culminates on the second Saturday in March. Each team plays every other team once (a total of 15 matches), with home ground advantage alternating from one year to the next. Before the 2017 tournament, two points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. Unlike many other rugby union competitions, a bonus point system had not previously been used.
A bonus point system was first used in the 2017 Championship. The system is similar to the one used in most rugby championships (0 points for a loss, 2 for a draw, 4 for a win, 1 for scoring four or more tries in a match, and 1 for losing by 7 points or fewer). The only difference is that a team that wins all their games (a Grand Slam) are automatically awarded 3 extra points - to ensure they cannot be overtaken by a defeated team on bonus points.
Before 1994, teams equal on match points shared the championship. Since then, ties have been broken by considering the points difference (total points scored minus total points conceded) of the teams. The rules of the championship further provide that if teams tie on both match points and points difference, the team that scored the most tries wins the championship. Were this decider to be a tie, the tying teams would share the championship. To date, however, match points and points difference have been sufficient to decide the championship.
The Wooden Spoon is a metaphorical award given to the team that finishes in last place; a team which loses all their matches is said to have been "whitewashed". Since the inaugural Six Nations tournament in 2000, only England and Ireland have avoided finishing last. Italy have finished last 18 times in the Six Nations era, and have lost all their matches in 12 tournaments. +Home advantage in the Six Nations Three home matches Two home matches Even years v England v Ireland v Italy v Italy v Scotland v Wales v France v Italy v Scotland v Ireland v Wales v England v Scotland v England v France Odd years v France v Italy v Scotland v France v Ireland v Wales v Ireland v Italy v Wales v Scotland v Wales v England v France v England v Ireland
Trophies
Championship Trophy The winners of the Six Nations are presented with the Championship Trophy. This was originally conceived by the Earl of Westmorland, and was first presented to the winners of the 1993 Five Nations Championship; France. It was a sterling silver trophy, designed by James Brent-Ward and made by a team of eight silversmiths from the London firm William Comyns. The current championship trophy for the Six Nations Championship was designed and made in 2015 by Thomas Lyte, London silversmiths.
The old trophy had 15 side panels representing the 15 members of the team and with three handles to represent the three officials (referee and two touch judges). The cup has a capacity of – sufficient for five bottles of champagne. Within the mahogany base is a concealed drawer which contains six alternative finials, each a silver replica of one of the team emblems, which can be screwed on the detachable lid.
A new trophy was introduced for the 2015 Championship. The trophy was sterling silver, containing over fifty individual pieces, standing at a height of and had a distinctive six-sided design representing the six nations that compete. In 2026, after the third round of the championship, the trophy was damaged by fire and retired from ceremonial use. A replica was presented to the 2026 Six Nations winners, and a new trophy will be commissioned for the 2027 Championship.
Grand Slam and Triple Crown A team that wins all its games wins the 'Grand Slam'.
The Triple Crown may only be won by one of the Home Nations of England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales, when one nation wins all three of their matches against the others. The Triple Crown dates back to the original Home Nations Championship, but the physical Triple Crown Trophy has been awarded only since 2006, when the Royal Bank of Scotland (the primary sponsor of the competition) commissioned Hamilton & Inches to design and create a dedicated Triple Crown Trophy. , the trophy has been won six times by Ireland, four times by Wales, three times by England, and is yet to be won by Scotland.
Rivalry trophies Several individual competitions take place under the umbrella of the tournament. Some of these trophies are also awarded for other matches between the two teams outside the Six Nations. Only Scotland play for a 'rivalry' or challenge trophy in every Six Nations match, as well as for the oldest such trophy, the Calcutta Cup. Wales became the last nation to contest such a trophy, the Doddie Weir Cup in 2018, while the newest such trophy is the Solidarity Trophy introduced between Ireland and France in 2026.
Games which form part of the Triple Crown are marked TC. TrophyTeamsSinceNotes Calcutta Cup England–ScotlandTC 1879 Made from melted-down Indian rupees donated by the Calcutta Club. Millennium Trophy England–IrelandTC 1988 Presented to celebrate Dublin's millennium in 1988. Centenary Quaich Ireland–ScotlandTC 1989 Named for the quaich, a traditional Gaelic drinking vessel. Marked the centenary of the founding of the International Rugby Football Board. Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy France–Italy 2007 Commemorated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Garibaldi, leader in the unification of Italy and volunteer in the French Republican Army against Prussia. Auld Alliance Trophy France–Scotland 2018 In memory of the war dead from the rugby communities of Scotland and France. Doddie Weir Cup Wales–ScotlandTC 2018 In recognition of Doddie Weir, who founded the My Name's Doddie Foundation which supports research into motor neurone disease. Cuttitta Cup Scotland–Italy 2022 Commemorates Massimo Cuttitta, a former Italian captain and Scotland scrum coach, who died in 2021 at the age of 54 from COVID-19.Solidarity TrophyIreland–France2026Celebrates historical links between the two nations. Awarded in both the men's and women's editions of the fixture (also known as "Celtic Crunch"). Currently the following matches have no additional trophy contested: England–France (a match nicknamed "Le Crunch") England–Italy England–WalesTC France–Wales Ireland–Italy Ireland–WalesTC Italy–Wales
Venues
As of the 2026 tournament, Six Nations matches are held in the following stadiums:
Team Stadium Location Capacity England Twickenham Stadium London 82,000 France Stade de France Saint-Denis81,338 Wales Principality Stadium Cardiff 73,931 Italy Stadio Olimpico Rome 72,698 Scotland Murrayfield Stadium Edinburgh 67,144 Ireland Aviva Stadium Dublin 51,700
The opening of Aviva Stadium in May 2010 ended the arrangement with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) that allowed the all-Ireland governing body for rugby union, the Irish Rugby Football Union, to use the GAA's flagship stadium, Croke Park, for its international matches. This arrangement was made necessary by the 2007 closure and subsequent demolition of Ireland's traditional home at Lansdowne Road; Aviva Stadium was built on the former Lansdowne Road site. During this construction, Croke Park was the largest of the Six Nations grounds, with a capacity of 82,300.
In 2012, Italy moved their home games from the 32,000 seat Stadio Flaminio, to Stadio Olimpico, also in Rome, with a capacity of 72,000.
The French Rugby Federation (FFR) had planned to build a new stadium of its own, seating 82,000 in the southern suburbs of Paris, because of frustrations with their tenancy of Stade de France. However the project was cancelled in December 2016. France played their 2018 and 2026 matches against Italy at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille and Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille respectively.
In 2020, Wales played their final game at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli due to the Principality Stadium being used as Dragon's Heart Hospital in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2024, France was unable to use the Stade de France for their Six Nations home games due to ongoing preparations for its use in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Instead they played their three home matches at the Stade Vélodrome, Stade Pierre-Mauroy, and Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon.
Results
Overall
Home Nations (1883–1909)
YearChampionsGrand SlamTriple CrownCalcutta Cup1883Not contested18841885Not completedNot completed1886 and – –1887 – –1888Not completedEngland did not participate1889Not completedEngland did not participate1890 and –189118921893189418951896 –1897Not completedNot completed1898Not completedNot completed –18991900 –1901190219031904 –19051906 and –190719081909
Five Nations (1910–1931)
YearChampionsGrand SlamTriple CrownCalcutta Cup1910 – –19111912 and – –191319141915–19Not held due to World War I1920, and – –19211922 – –1923192419251926 and – –1927 and – –19281929 – –1930 – – –1931 – –
Home Nations (1932–1939)
YearChampionsTriple CrownCalcutta Cup1932, and –193319341935 –1936 –193719381939, , –
Five Nations (1940–1999)