The Six Nations Championships will get underway in February, 2016
Image: Daily Mail.
The Six Nations Championship started as a competition in 1883 and was originally known as the Home Nations Championship. It was started by the perennial rivals which were originally under one kingdom, the United Kingdom, that is, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. After France joined the championship twenty eight years later, it was renamed to the Five Nations Championship. It became to be known as the Six Nations Championship in the year 2000 when Italy also started taking part in the championship.
Even though England and Scotland were the most successful teams in the early days of the championship, by the turn of the twentieth century, the Wales had come into their own and had come up with a formidable side that won the championship in 1893 when they beat all the other three nations in the competition.
The championship is held every year at the beginning of the year in the months of February and March. However, sometimes the matches stretch into the month of April.
In order to win the Six Nations Championship, after the seven weeks of gruelling rugby, the trophy is presented to the team that earns the most number of points. For each win, the team earns two points while a draw will result in a team being awarded one point and obviously, a loss will not earn a team any points. If at the end of the championship two teams end up with the same number of points and they are the top teams, the winner is selected by using what is referred to as the match points difference. This is effected by subtracting the match points against from the match points for, with the result that the championship will be awarded to the team that has the higher match points difference. In simpler terms, this means that the winner is selected as the team that scored more match points and was scored less match points by all the other teams in the championships. However, if, after this method, the teams are still tied, the championship is shared between the teams. This competition also allows recognition for the team that manages to win all their five matches on their way to winning the championship. They are given the title of ‘Grand Slam’ winner.
The next Six Nations Championship will kick-start on the 6th of February, 2016 when France will be hosting Italy at the Stade de France and end on the 19th of March again in France when the French side will host England, the current hosts of the Rugby World Cup, which started on Friday. For those who like wagering, this may be your chance to pick your winner for 6 nations betting and place a bet!
