Current season, competition or edition: 2023 Women's Six Nations Championship | |
 | |
| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 |
| No. of teams | 6 (from 2002) 5 (1999–2001) 4 (1996–1998) |
| Country |  England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales |
| Most recent champion(s) | England (19th title in 2023) |
| Most titles | England (19 titles) |
The Women's Six Nations Championship, known as the Guinness Women's Six Nations for sponsorship purposes,[1] 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.
In the 1998–99 season it became the Five Nations, with France joining the original four. The following season, Spain replaced Ireland for two seasons.
In 2001–02 the women's Six Nations competition was born with England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Spain and Wales playing, after Ireland rejoined the competition. Spain, at that time, were higher ranked than Italy and therefore deserved their place in the competition on merit.
In 2006, a championship trophy was commissioned from silversmith Thomas Lyte, to be followed by a second trophy commissioned for the Under 20 Six Nations championship. Designed and created by Thomas Lyte, the trophies are made from sterling silver and feature engraving detail with the logos of the competing countries.[2]
In 2007, the Six Nations committee formally adopted Italy as the sixth national team member in the championship, replacing Spain. This aligned the women's competition with the men's competition.
England have been the dominant team in the competition, winning 19 of 28 editions entering 2024.
Results
Overall
| England |
France |
Ireland |
Italy |
Scotland |
 Spain |
Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tournaments | 27 | 24 | 25 | 16 | 27 | 7 | 27 |
| Outright Wins | 18 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Slams | 16 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Triple Crowns | 22 | — | 2 | — | 1 | — | 1 |
| Wooden Spoons | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 6 |
Home Nations (1996–1998)
| Year | Champions | Grand Slam | Triple Crown | Wooden Spoon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | England |
England |
England |
Wales |
| 1997 | England |
England |
England |
Ireland |
| 1998 | Scotland |
Scotland |
Scotland |
Ireland |
Five Nations (1999–2001)
| Year | Champions | Grand Slam | Triple Crown | Wooden Spoon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | England |
England |
England |
Ireland |
| 2000 | England |
England |
England |
Wales |
| 2001 | England |
England |
England |
Wales |
Six Nations (2002–present)
Final positions
| Home Nations | Five Nations | Six Nations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| England | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st |
| France | — | — | — | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd |
| Ireland | 3rd | 4th | 4th | 5th | — | — | 6th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 4th | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 5th | 3rd | 3rd | 4th | 6th |
| Italy | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6th | 5th | 6th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 4th | 3rd | 5th | 6th | 4th | 2nd | 4th | 4th | 5th | 5th |
| Scotland | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 4th | 4th | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 5th | 4th | 6th | 6th | 6th | 6th | 6th | 6th | 4th | 5th | 6th | 5th | 5th | 6th | 4th |
| Spain | — | — | — | — | 3rd | 3rd | 4th | 6th | 3rd | 4th | 6th | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wales | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 4th | 6th | 6th | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 6th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 5th | 5th | 4th | 5th | 6th | 4th | 6th | 6th | 3rd | 3rd |
Tables
Home Nations (1996–1998)
| Position | Nation | Tournaments | Matches | Points | Table points |
Awards | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | TW | GS | TC | WS | ||||
| 1 | England |
3 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 255 | 72 | +183 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | Scotland |
3 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 121 | 66 | +55 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Wales |
3 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 125 | 184 | –59 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Ireland |
3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 56 | 235 | –179 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Five Nations (1999–2001)
| Position | Nation | Tournaments | Matches | Points | Table points |
Awards | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | TW | GS | TC | WS | ||||
| 1 | England |
3 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 491 | 68 | +423 | 24 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | France |
3 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 240 | 141 | +99 | 16 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 |
| 3 | Scotland |
3 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 172 | 246 | –74 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Spain |
2 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 74 | 135 | –61 | 8 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 |
| 5 | Wales |
3 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 77 | 341 | –264 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Ireland |
1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 128 | –123 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Six Nations without bonus point scoring (2002–2016)
| Position | Nation | Tournaments | Matches | Points | Table points |
Awards | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | TW | GS | TC | WS | ||||
| 1 | England |
15 | 75 | 64 | 0 | 11 | 2810 | 335 | +2475 | 128 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 0 |
| 2 | France |
15 | 75 | 50 | 0 | 25 | 1726 | 701 | +1025 | 100 | 5 | 4 | N/A | 0 |
| 3 | Ireland |
15 | 75 | 35 | 0 | 40 | 1055 | 1097 | –42 | 70 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | Wales |
15 | 75 | 30 | 1 | 44 | 861 | 1042 | –181 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | Scotland |
15 | 75 | 15 | 1 | 59 | 597 | 2065 | –1468 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 6 | Italy |
10 | 50 | 14 | 1 | 35 | 579 | 1216 | –637 | 29 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 3 |
| 7 | Spain |
5 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 18 | 156 | 764 | –604 | 13 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2 |
Six Nations with bonus point scoring (2017–)
| Position | Nation | Tournaments | Matches | Points | Tries | Bonus points |
Table points |
Awards | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | For | Against | T BP | L BP | GS BP | TW | GS | TC | WS | ||||
| 1 | England |
7 | 33 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 1582 | 233 | +1349 | 252 | 33 | 28 | 1 | 15 | 168 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| 2 | France |
7 | 32 | 24 | 1 | 7 | 1076 | 370 | +706 | 162 | 48 | 23 | 3 | 3 | 123 | 1 | 1 | N/A | 0 |
| 3 | Ireland |
7 | 32 | 14 | 0 | 18 | 486 | 788 | –302 | 74 | 121 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 62 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Italy |
7 | 32 | 10 | 1 | 21 | 498 | 941 | –443 | 56 | 127 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 49 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1 |
| 5 | Wales |
7 | 32 | 9 | 1 | 22 | 408 | 993 | –585 | 59 | 154 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Scotland |
7 | 31 | 6 | 1 | 24 | 373 | 999 | –626 | 53 | 157 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Total
| Position | Nation | Tournaments | Matches | Points | Bonus points |
Table points |
Awards | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | T BP | L BP | GS BP | TW | GS | TC | WS | ||||
| 1 | England |
27 | 124 | 111 | 0 | 13 | 4867 | 649 | +4218 | 23 | 1 | 12 | 312 | 18 | 16 | 22 | 0 |
| 2 | France |
24 | 114 | 77 | 1 | 36 | 2843 | 1145 | +1698 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 219 | 6 | 5 | N/A | 0 |
| 3 | Ireland |
25 | 115 | 50 | 0 | 65 | 1577 | 2055 | –478 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 139 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 4 | Wales |
27 | 123 | 40 | 2 | 81 | 1399 | 2512 | –1113 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 104 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 5 | Scotland |
27 | 122 | 30 | 2 | 90 | 1179 | 3228 | –2049 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 78 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 6 | Italy |
16 | 77 | 23 | 2 | 52 | 900 | 1995 | –1095 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 70 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 4 |
| 7 | Spain |
7 | 33 | 10 | 1 | 22 | 250 | 899 | -645 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2 |
Highest team scores
Wins by 80 points or more:
- England v Scotland (89–0) at Twickenham 08/03/2011 [523]
- England v Spain (86–3) at Madrid 11/02/2006 [523]
- England v Wales (83–11) at Swansea 10/04/1999 [239]
- England v Wales (81–0) at Cardiff Arms Park 04/02/2005 [476]
- England v Scotland (80–0) at Twickenham 16/03/2019 [1308]
See also
- Women's international rugby - includes all women's international match results
- Rugby Europe Women's Championship, competition for other European nations
Notes
- ↑ Three fixtures in the 2020 tournament were cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]
- ↑ The 2021 tournament followed a one-off format, which consisted of two pools with three teams each. The teams all played one home and one away match, before the top ranked teams in each pool contested the final.[4]
References
- ↑ Six Nations Rugby and Guinness agree groundbreaking partnership spanning the women’s and men’s Championships
- ↑ Rugby Trophies - Rugby Football History
- ↑ "Remaining 2020 Women's Six Nations matches cancelled". Six Nations Rugby. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
- ↑ "Women's Six Nations: How the 2021 Championship will work". Six Nations Rugby. 28 March 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2023.