The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is also the oldest sports tournament ever between Home Nations. The championship holders are Ireland, who won the 2024 tournament.
The England national rugby union team represents the Rugby Football Union in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasions, winning the Grand Slam 14 times and the Triple Crown 26 times, making them the most successful outright winners in the tournament's history. They are currently the only team from the Northern Hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup, having won the tournament in 2003, and have been runners-up on three further occasions.
The Scotland national rugby union team represents the Scottish Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. The team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship, where they are the current Calcutta Cup and Doddie Weir Cup holders. They also participate in the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years.
The Wales national rugby union team represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England. The team plays its home matches at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, which replaced Cardiff Arms Park as the national stadium of Wales in 1999.
The Italy national rugby union team represents the Italian Rugby Federation in men's international rugby union. The team is known as gli Azzurri. Savoy blue is the common colour of the national teams representing Italy, as it is the traditional colour of the royal House of Savoy which reigned over the Kingdom of Italy from 1860 to 1946.
The Romania national rugby union team, nicknamed Stejarii, has long been considered one of the stronger European teams outside the Six Nations. They have participated in all but one Rugby World Cup and currently compete in the first division of the European Nations Cup, which they won in 2017. Rugby union in Romania is administered by the Romanian Rugby Federation.
The Women's Six Nations Championship, known as the Guinness Women's Six Nations for sponsorship purposes, is an international rugby union competition contested between six European women's national teams. It started in the 1995–96 season as the Home Nations, with four teams: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The 1985 Five Nations Championship was the fifty-sixth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the ninety-first series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 2 February and 20 April. The championship was contested by England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The 2008 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2008 RBS 6 Nations because of sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the ninth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, the 114th series of the international championship.
The French national rugby union team first competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics.
Ian Scott Smith was a rugby union wing who played 32 Tests for Scotland and two Tests for the British Isles. Born in Melbourne, Australia, and brought up in New Zealand, Smith moved to England and was educated at Winchester College, before studying at Oxford University and later Edinburgh University. At Oxford he took up rugby and was eventually selected for Scotland, for whom he was eligible because of his Scottish parents. He toured with the British Isles to South Africa in 1924, and played all four matches in Scotland's first ever Five Nations Grand Slam in 1925. He represented Scotland until 1933 when he captained them in their Triple Crown winning season. His 24 international tries, all scored in the Five Nations or Home Nations, was an international record until 1987 and a record for the Five/Six Nations until 2011. This record stood for 88 years until 2021, when it was broken by Stuart Hogg.
The 1999 Five Nations Championship was the 70th series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 105th series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played over five weekends from 6 February to 11 April. The tournament was won by Scotland, who beat England on points difference.
The 1993 Five Nations Championship was the 64th series of the Five Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition between the major Northern Hemisphere rugby union national teams. The tournament consisted of 10 matches held between 16 January and 20 March 1993.
The 1990 Five Nations Championship was the 61st series of the Five Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition between the major rugby union national teams in Europe. The tournament consisted of ten matches held between 20 January and 24 March 1990.
The 1923 Five Nations Championship was the ninth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the thirty-sixth series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 20 January and 14 April. It was contested by England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The 1925 Five Nations Championship was the eleventh series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the thirty-eighth series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 24 January and 18 April. It was contested by England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Rugby union in Scotland in its modern form has existed since the mid-19th century. Scotland has one of the oldest rugby union traditions and has introduced various innovations including rugby sevens.
Herbert Waddell was a Scottish rugby union fly-half who played club rugby for Glasgow Academicals and international rugby for Scotland and the British Isles. Waddell was heavily involved with the invitational tourist team, the Barbarians, not only playing for the club, but also became the fifth president of the club in 1973
Ambrose Baker was a dual-code international rugby player who played rugby union for Neath and rugby league with Oldham, as a forward. He won five caps for Wales under the rugby union code and then represented his country at rugby league in two matches between 1925 and 1928, and Other Nationalities in 1924.
The 2019 Six Nations Championship was the 20th Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales, and the 125th edition of the competition.
England 
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Ireland 
Scotland 
Wales