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Six Nations: History, format, venue & odds

The annual Six Nations tournament draws the attention of rugby union fans across the continent and will take centre stage from the 31st January 2025.

Concluding on the 15th March, the likes of England, France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy face off in a round-robin format for the highly-coveted trophy.

Rugby Union

Six Nations dates

The opening game of the Six Nations 2025 will take place on Friday 31st January, with France hosting Wales in what could be a high-scoring encounter after 2024's meeting in Cardiff - with Les Bleus winning 45-24.

Fixtures will then be played on the weekends of 8th February, 22nd February, 8th March and 15th March, the last of which will see all three games played on the Saturday.

Six Nations venues

All six countries usually host games in their respective capitals. England will play their home matches on the outskirts of London at Twickenham, while Scotland's Edinburgh base is Murrayfield.

Wales' home ground is the Principality Stadium in Cardiff and Dublin's Aviva Stadium will host Ireland's matches.

Italy's home is Rome's Stadio Olimpico, while Paris' majestic Stade de France, situated in the suburb of Saint-Denis, will be the setting for France's home matches.

Country

Stadium

England

Twickenham, London

France

Stade de France, Paris

Ireland

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Italy

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Scotland

Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Wales

Principality Stadium, Cardiff

Six Nations how to watch

The Six Nations is a free-to-air event in the UK, meaning every fixture is shown on terrestrial television.

The BBC and ITV will once again be screening every game of the Six Nations.

Six Nations odds

Six Nations history

The Six Nations was first played between the current competing countries in 2000, however, the tournament has been held annually since 1883. It was then known as the Home Nations Championship and featured England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

It expanded into the Five Nations with the addition of France in 1910. Italy were next to be included in 2000, famously winning their historic first match 32-20 against Scotland in Rome.

Six Nations format

After five rounds, the team with the most points in the table wins the Championship, however, there are also several other awards embedded in the event.

For the Home Nations - England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland - the Triple Crown is available for any team that wins all three fixtures against their neighbours.

Doing so will also help a country achieve the holy grail of European international rugby by completing a clean sweep of five wins, known as a Grand Slam.

There is also the Calcutta Cup, which is played for annually by England and Scotland amongst the other seven mini-competitions within the competition, while the Wooden Spoon is awarded to the team that finishes bottom of the standings.

Six Nations' most successful team

England are the most successful country to have competed in the competition, winning the tournament in its various guises outright on 29 occasions. They have one more title than nearest rivals Wales, while they have won 13 Grand Slams to Wales' 12.

England's last Grand Slam success came in 2016, while Wales achieved the same feat three years later.

Conversely, Ireland have been awarded the most Wooden Spoons with 25. However, Italy's tally of 18 in 23 tournament appearances suggests they will soon take over that mantle. However, they did avoid bottom spot in 2024, with the unfortunate award going to Wales who lost each of their five matches.

Six Nations 2024 winners

The 2024 Six Nations was another thrilling tournament and it was Ireland who claimed the title for a second successive year, although they did miss out on consecutive Grand Slams after a 23-22 defeat to England at Twickenham.

The Irish retained their Six Nations crown for the first time since winning the tournament back-to-back in 2014 and 2015.

Fabien Galthie's France finished as runners-up, while just three points separated England, Scotland and Italy. Warren Gatland's Wales picked up the Wooden Spoon despite spirited performances.

Six Nations 2025 fixtures

Round 1

Friday 31st January

France v Wales (20:15)

Saturday 1st February

Scotland v Italy (14:15)
Ireland v England (16:45)

Round 2

Saturday 8th February

Italy v Wales (14:15)
England v France (16:45)

Sunday 9th February

Scotland v Ireland (15:00)

Round 3

Saturday 22nd February

Wales v Ireland (14:15)
England v Scotland (16:45)

Sunday 2erd February

Italy v France (15:00)

Round 4

Saturday 8th March

Ireland v France (14:15)
Scotland v Wales (16:45)

Sunday 9th March

England v Italy (15:00)

Round 5

Saturday 16th March

Italy v Ireland (14:15)
Wales v England (16:45)
France v Scotland (20:00)

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