The Six Nations Tournament
The tournament is one of the oldest sporting competitions in the world. It was created in 1882, and the original participating countries were Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England...
The Six Nations Tournament is an annual rugby union competition taking place from February to March. The participating teams are England, Scotland, France, Wales, Ireland and Italy.
The tournament is one of the oldest sporting competitions in the world. It was created in 1882, and the original participating countries were Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England. Indeed, rugby union was still little known in France and it took a little time before it really developed. It was finally in 1910 that France entered the tournament, the year when England were able to win the cup. It was only in 2000 that Italy made its appearance in the tournament.
Let us discover 3 interesting facts about this:
The match between England and France is called the “Crunch”. This comes from an English expression meaning “crucial moment”. Indeed, England and France are historically the two best teams in the Northern Hemisphere and the matches are always very intense to date. England have won more times than France: fifty-eight matches versus forty.
The tournament trophy is made of six kilograms of sterling silver and the inside of the cup is gold-plated to prevent the corrosive effect of champagne. It has a value of £55,000.
The team that has won the most Grand Slams is England (16 Grand Slams won to date). A grand slam being a tournament won with no defeat.
In 2019, the winning team was Wales. This year, the first match of the Tournament took place on Saturday last with a match between Wales and Italy. The Italian team found themselves on the receiving end against a dominant Wales team, the match thus finished 42-0 for the “Red Dragons”. Followed by a hard-fought Scotland-Ireland where Ireland came out the winner with a score of 19-12 for the “Shamrock”. The following day saw the “Crunch” between England and France at Stade de France. A very good match dominated by France who won 24-17, an achievement against an England team who were heavily favoured. A good match that illustrates the friendly rivalry of the two teams and the two nations.
