Six Nations Championship
Current season or competition: 2014 Six Nations Championship |
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The official RBS 6 Nations logo
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| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1883 (as Home Nations Championship) 2000 (as Six Nations Championship) |
| No. of teams | 6 |
| Countries |  England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales |
| Most recent champion(s) | Wales |
The Six Nations Championship[a] is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides:England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The Six Nations is the successor to the Five Nations Championship (1910–31 and 1947–99) which in turn succeeded the Home Nations Championship (1883–1909 and 1932–39). The Home Nations Championship, played between teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, was the first international rugby union tournament.[1] The winners of the Six Nations Championship are sometimes unofficially referred to in the media as the European Champions or Northern Hemisphere Champions.
England and Wales are the joint current record holders for outright wins of the Home Nations, Five Nations and Six Nations tournaments, with 26 titles each, although Wales add to that record with 12 shared victories to England’s 10 shared titles. Since the Six Nations era started in 2000, only Italy and Scotland have failed to win the actual Six Nations title, although Scotland were the last outright winners of the tournament’s predecessor event, the Five Nations, in 1999.
