Six Nations Betting (Rugby)

Tournament Format

The tournament usually begins in early February and there first two rounds of action are played on back to back weekends, before a weekend break before the third round of matches. There is another weekend break then before the final two rounds are playing out back to back. Each team plays each of the others once in the competition and the fixtures are reversed from the previous year’s competition, so for example, if England played Scotland at home last year, Scotland will host them for the following tournament.

In 2017, for the first time a bonus points system was used, to come into line for what was being used in domestic rugby (0 points for a loss, 2 for a draw, 4 for a win, 1 for scoring four or more tries in match, and 1 for losing by 7 points or fewer). There was an added caveat that if a team pulled off a Grand Slam, ie winning all matches in the Championship, then a bonus three points would be added to make sure that they would finish top of the table.

Participating Teams

England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy are the six nations who compete for the Championship. The format of the tournament has grown throughout its history as it was just England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales competing in the original Home Nations. It grew to include France in 1910 for the first time to become the Five Nations and then it switched back to the Home Nations (with France dropping out) between 1932 and 1939. Then France came back for the 1947 edition to revive the Five Nations which stayed around until 2000 when Italy joined to make it the Six Nations.

Titles

The Championship Trophy is the main one on offer as the winner of the Six Nations gets their hands on that particular piece of silverware. The Grand Slam is achieved by a side winning of their matches in a given Six Nations season, while the Triple Crown is awarded for a side which wins all three matches against the other Home Nations (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales) during the course of a tournament.

There are other titles up for grabs within the Six Nations action as well, and these are one-off rivalry matches each season.

The Calcutta Cup – England v Scotland
Millennium trophy – England v Ireland
Centenary Quaich – Ireland v Scotland
Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy – France v Italy

2019 Six Nations Review

There was a little bit of history created at the 2019 Six Nations tournament. For the first time ever all teams managed to score a try in every match played in the season. As for the more important stuff, it was Wales who were crowned 2019 Six Nations champions, romping their way to a Grand Slam title as well.

It was the first time since 2013 that Wales had collected the title and it gave the departing head coach Warren Gatland a great send-off. It had all started, however, with a remarkable comeback in France in the opening game of the tournament. Wales had found themselves 16-0 down in Paris at the halftime break, totally out of the picture. But then came a remarkable second half with tries from Tomos Williams and a brace from George North to turn the game on its head. Wales took a 24-19 win.

Wales take the reins with victory over England

After the first two rounds of action, it was England who were looking like title favourites. They had taken an impressive win away at Ireland in their opening match and then had thrashed France 44-8 at Twickenham in their second game. But then came their big test, a head to head clash with Wales in Cardiff in the third round of action. It was looking like an early potential title-decider and it proved to be just that in the long run.

England made all of the early runnings and were holding a controlled 10-3 half time lead. But Wales once again were not going to lie down and take it. Just as they had come back in France, they did the same at home against England and ran out 21-13 victors, limiting England to just three points in the second period of the contest. Wales secured the title with a 25-7 victory over Ireland on home soil in the final round of matches.

Final Standings

So it was Wales who claimed the title, with England in second place and Ireland in third. France settled for fourth with two victories in their campaign, ahead of Scotland (who had brilliantly fought back from 31-0 down at Twickenham against England in their final match to draw 38-38) and annual wooden-spoon winners Italy.

England’s Owen Farrell scored the most points in the 2019 Six Nations with a tally of 59, well ahead of Wales’ Gareth Anscombe. The top try-scorer in the tournament also came from the English ranks, with Jonny May’s electrifying pace getting his six tries, two more than second-placed Yoann Huget from France.

2020 Six Nations Preview

The 2020 Six Nations, the 21st edition of the event, does bring some new twists with it. Four of the nations have new head coaches for the campaign. Only England’s Eddie Jones and Scotland’s Gregor Townsend remain from the previous Six Nations campaign. Part of the reason for that was tenures having come to an end following last year’s Rugby World Cup.

Reigning Six Nations champions Wales saw Warren Gatland depart and New Zealander Wayne Pivac take over. Ireland saw the Joel Schmidt era come to an end and it was Andy Farrell taking over the hot seat in Dublin. France drafted in Fabien Galthie to try and get them back into shape as a competitive, consistent contender. The bigger coup for the French was getting defensive coach Shaun Edwards away from the Welsh setup. Italy take on the 2020 Six Nations challenge with Franco Smith as interim head coach.

So there are elements on unknowns heading into the 2020 Six Nations. Which of the new head coaches will be able to implement their ideas and identities the best? 2019 Rugby World Cup runners up England were pre-tournament favourites for the 2020 Six Nations. That was being based not only on the back of their run to the World Cup final, but because of the consistency in their setup with Eddie Jones and a very strong crop of young players.

Wales and Ireland face big changes

Question marks over how Wales will handle things defensively since losing Shaun Edwards will linger over their title defence. The Welsh were so mean at the back in the 2019 edition, conceding just the seven tries in their five matches, that there is the potential for something to have been lost. But Wales still boasts some of the best defensive individual back-line players in the championship.

Ireland are perhaps the ones who face the biggest shake-up. They were a pragmatic, monotonous kick and chase type of team under Joel Schmidt. So will new head coach Andy Farrell (father of England’s captain Owen Farrell) inject new life into them as a more powerful attacking unit? It’s not only about unleashing a more open Irish game, but doing it under the testing time-constraint conditions of the Six Nations.

France the dark horses for 2020?

France perhaps will raise the most eyebrows. New head coach Fabian Galthie brought in a whole team of uncapped players into his provisional squad. While he trimmed it down of course, it showed that he is prepared to take chances. So with renewed unpredictability combined with a potentially more solid defence because of the drills of Shaun Edwards, Les Bleus could be the dark horses of the tournament.

Italy would appear to have a long way to go in order to close the gap on the rest of the contenders, while Scotland, after a disappointing 2019 World Cup campaign, where they lost pool stage matches to Ireland and Japan, will continue their search for consistency and progress under Gregor Townsend as well.

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