Women's Six Nations Championship

Women's Six Nations Championship
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 Women's Six Nations Championship
SportRugby union
Founded1996
No. of teams6 (from 2002)
5 (1999–2001)
4 (1996–1998)
Country England
 France
 Ireland
 Italy
 Scotland
 Wales
Most recent
champion(s)
 England (2024)
Most titles England (20)

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 20 of 29 editions.

Results

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Overall

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 England  France  Ireland  Italy  Scotland  Spain  Wales
Tournaments 29 26 27 18 29 7 29
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 8

Home Nations (1996–1998)

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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)

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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)

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Year Champions Grand Slam Triple Crown Wooden Spoon
2002  France  France  England  Ireland
2003  England  England  England  Spain
2004  France  France  England  Ireland
2005  France  France  England  Wales
2006  England  England  England  Spain
2007  England  England  England  Italy
2008  England  England  England  Scotland
2009  England  Wales  Italy
2010  England  England  England  Wales
2011  England  England  England  Scotland
2012  England  England  England  Scotland
2013  Ireland  Ireland  Ireland  Scotland
2014  France  France  England  Scotland
2015  Ireland  Ireland  Scotland
2016  France  England  Scotland
2017  England  England  England  Italy
2018  France  France  England  Wales
2019  England  England  England  Scotland
2020  England  England  England Not completed[a]
2021  England Not contested[b]  Wales
2022  England  England  England  Scotland
2023  England  England  England  Ireland
2024  England  England  England  Wales

Final positions

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Summary

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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

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Home Nations (1996–1998)

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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)

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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)

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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–)

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Position Nation Tournaments Matches Points Tries Bonus
points
Table
points
Awards
P W D L PF PA PD TF TA 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

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Pos Nation Tourn­aments Matches Points Bonus
points
Table
points
Awards
P W D L PF PA PD 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

Records

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Highest team scores

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Wins by 80 points or more:

Awards

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Player of the Championship

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The following table outlines the nominees and winners of the Women's Six Nations Player of the Championship Award, which was first presented at the 2020 tournament.[5]

Year Team Nominee Winner Ref
2020 N/A England Emily Scarratt [6]
2021  England Zoe Aldcroft England Poppy Cleall [7]
 France Caroline Boujard
 England Poppy Cleall
2022  England Sarah Bern France Laure Sansus [8]
 France Madoussou Fall
 England Marlie Packer
 France Laure Sansus
2023  England Holly Aitchison France Gabrielle Vernier [9]
 England Marlie Packer (2)
 Wales Sisilia Tuipulotu
 France Gabrielle Vernier
2024  Italy Alyssa D'Incà [it] England Ellie Kildunne [10]
 England Ellie Kildunne
 France Romane Ménager
 Ireland Aoife Wafer

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Three fixtures in the 2020 tournament were cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]
  2. ^ 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

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  1. ^ Six Nations Rugby and Guinness agree groundbreaking partnership spanning the women’s and men’s Championships
  2. ^ Rugby Trophies - Rugby Football History
  3. ^ "Remaining 2020 Women's Six Nations matches cancelled". Six Nations Rugby. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Women's Six Nations: How the 2021 Championship will work". Six Nations Rugby. 28 March 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Guinness Women's Six Nations Player of The Championship". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  6. ^ "Emily Scarratt crowned the inaugural 2020 Women's Six Nations Player of the Championship". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  7. ^ "Poppy Cleall crowned 2021 Women's Six Nations Player of the Championship". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  8. ^ "Laure Sansus named 2022 TikTok Women's Player of the Championship". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Women's Six Nations: Gabrielle Vernier named player of the championship". www.bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. 18 May 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Kildunne wins Guinness Player of the Championship". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 17 May 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
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