The RBS Six Nations is upon us once again and it is set to be as exciting as ever as the northern hemisphere’s best go head-to-head and fans can watch all 15 games of the 2015 championship live on BBC One.
Reigning champions Ireland will be desperate to retain their title and have the quality to do so following some impressive performances in the autumn, while England, who narrowly lost by a match points difference of just 10 last year, will be equally determined to avoid a fourth consecutive second-place finish, especially with a home World Cup on the horizon, though a number of high-profile injuries to key players may harm their chances of a first Six Nations crown since 2011.
The rest of the field should not be discounted either, as Scotland, Wales, France and Italy will all be doing battle as they bid for the Six Nations crown; France and Wales in particular will have their sights set on the coveted prize, while Scotland and Italy will be looking to improve on their poor recent records in the competition.
All six captains above, Chris Robshaw, Sam Warburton, Greig Laidlaw, Sergio Parisse, Thierry Dusautoir and Paul O’Connell, will chase after a newly designed Six Nations trophy, which is only the second trophy since 1883 to be created for rugby’s greatest championship.
Designed and crafted by world-renowned silversmiths Thomas Lyte, the new trophy replaces the 1993 edition, which is being retired as it represented the nations that took part in the pre-millennium Five Nations.
The year 2000 marked the start of the Six Nations, with the addition of Italy to England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the new Trophy is the first to truly represent all six participating nations in the tournament.
Twelve months ago, Ireland wove a fairytale ending for retiring legend Brian O’Driscoll after a special night in Paris closed out a spectacular 2014 Six Nations Championship, with the final ‘Super Saturday’ having seen a three-way shoot-out between Ireland, England and France.
O’Driscoll, with 26 Six Nations tries and a Grand Slam under his belt, had forever etched himself in RBS 6 Nations folklore regardless of the outcome of the final round, and as fitting as his last chapter proved, Ireland left the 2014 championship clutching silverware and promising more to come with Joe Schmidt’s revolution gathering pace ahead of the World Cup in the autumn.
France had beaten England in their opener in a 26-24 thriller at the Stade de France, meaning no Grand Slam was on the cards in 2014, but fast forward a few weeks and Stuart Lancaster’s men were in the frame for the title, though they eventually came up short on points difference.
Elsewhere, Wales’ aim of three Six Nations on the bounce ultimately fell short in round four with defeat to England at Twickenham, while Scotland did produce one great moment of joy for their legion of fans however as Duncan Weir’s drop-goal clinched a last-gasp 21-20 victory over Italy, who ended the tournament without a win.
The Scots were so close to lighting up Murrayfield after stunning France with early Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour tries in week four, as the visitors had to rely on a late Jean-Marc Doussain penalty of their own to escape with a 19-17 win.
This year’s tournament can be considered to be a five-week tune up to the Rugby World Cup that begins in England this September, with some of the Six Nations sides set to go head-to-head in the pool stages, including the two teams who are involved in the very first match of the 2015 Championship.
Wales and England will meet later this year in the World Cup at Twickenham, but before that they face-off in Cardiff in the curtain-raiser to the championship under the floodlights at the Millennium Stadium on a Friday night, with Warren Gatland and Stuart Lancaster’s respective sides looking to take the early bragging rights ahead of their World Cup contest in September.
2015 is undoubtedly a big year for England as they host the World Cup later this year, which makes the Six Nations an ideal preparation for head coach Stuart Lancaster, however, England’s results in the autumn internationals pose several dilemmas for Lancaster to ponder.
The scourge of injuries has prevented Lancaster from playing his strongest team, especially in the forwards, while there is also the dilemma as to who will be England’s starting fly half come the World Cup.
Questions also remain as to England’s mental robustness to cope with the intensity of the raucous atmosphere at the Millennium Stadium, so the opening match could set the tone for the championship, as well as the year ahead.
It promises to be an memorable year for rugby union with the World Cup coming up in the autumn, but it’s international rugby’s oldest and greatest annual championship that is up for grabs this spring and you can watch every game live across the BBC.
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The BBC will be offering its most comprehensive coverage of the RBS 6 Nations to date exclusively live to rugby fans across the UK via TV, radio, online and social media.
Every game of this year’s championship will be shown live on BBC One and BBC One HD throughout February and March, with coverage kicking off on Friday, February 6, as Wales take on England at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
That opener will be preceded by a full hour’s build-up, starting with a Six Nations preview on BBC Two at 7.00pm, before coverage switches to BBC One at 7.30pm for the build-up to one of the most highly anticipated matches of this year’s competition.
John Inverdale leads the BBC’s TV coverage of rugby’s greatest championship for his tenth successive year, alongside fellow hosts Gabby Logan and Jason Mohammed, with the trio sharing presenting duties across all 15 games.
Match commentary is once again led by Eddie Butler, Andrew Cotter and Conor McNamara, with Sonja McLaughlan, Jill Douglas and Lee McKenzie reporting from pitchside.
A vast team of BBC rugby experts will be offering their professional analysis and insight in the studio, pitchside and from the commentary box, including Jonathan Davies, Jeremy Guscott, Sir Clive Woodward, Keith Wood, Brian Moore, Andy Nicol, Shane Williams, Sir Ian McGeechan, Thomas Castaignede, Martyn Williams, Carlo Del Fava, Lewis Moody and Chris Paterson.
Brand new for 2015, John Inverdale presents Six Nations Rewind on BBC Two, where the classic matches from the BBC archive mirror those set to take place on that weekend, kicking off on Saturday, February 7, with Italy v Ireland and France v Scotland at 10.00am.
The BBC’s coverage will also look slightly different on-air this year as the corporation will for the first time use the Six Nations world feed broadcast graphics for its live match coverage, as opposed to the generic BBC Sport look used in previous years.
In addition, there will be a special one hour documentary on BBC Two – 6 Nations Magic – to be broadcast on Sunday, February 15 at 7.00pm, which picks out the most memorable moments in the famous history of rugby’s greatest championship and featuring a host of famous faces.
The documentary will also include the great people stories from the Six Nations including the many lasting friendships and romances that have started and endured over the years.
Other related programming includes a special Six Nations Question of Sport, special features in some of the biggest BBC brands, such as The One Show, and all this will be supported by BBC Get Inspired, the BBCs campaign to get more people active, as well as coverage from Radio 1 and 1Xtra’s Newsbeat and CBBC Newsround.
As well as the men’s championship, the BBC will also screen live coverage two games from the Women’s Six Nations, including Wales v England (February 8) and England and France (March 21), with the latter following the men’s match at Twickenham on the final day of the tournament. Sara Orchard commentates on the match
The Women’s Six Nations will feature in weekly round-ups in the main BBC TV Six Nations programmes and all the key highlights will be available to watch via the BBC Sport website.
On radio, BBC 5 live and sports extra will bring live commentary of all matches, reports on every fixture, the latest news, discussion and debate throughout the tournament with their expert team of analysts, with Ian Robertson leading the commentary team, joined by Alastair Eykyn, Conor McNamara, Iain Carter and Chris Jones.
The BBC’s digital offering will provide a comprehensive live page at bbc.co.uk/sport containing TV, radio and text commentary, with the latter showcasing expert analysis, the best of social media and detailed match statistics.
There will be extensive coverage with bespoke pre and post-match comment from big name analysts such as Jeremy Guscott and Jonathan Davies as well as chief sports writers Tom Fordyce and Tom English.
New for 2015, a 10-minute catch up service, also available to download on iPlayer, will feature the best video highlights, stats, analysis and funnies from the weekend’s action. There will also be on-demand clips and highlights following each match.
The BBC will utilise its social media reach, across a range of sport and pan-BBC accounts, to promote the Championship, including the launch of a dedicated rugby account on Twitter for the first time – @bbcrugby.
In broadcast, the BBC will incorporate user comments from social media into coverage, feature the best user-generated content under #friendlyrivalry and allow users to vote on topical issues via the BBC Sport website and Twitter. BBC talent will also occasionally take part in Q&A sessions via our social media channels.
BBC News will also be covering all the major stories and moments of the tournament across TV, radio and online, including a special preview programme ‘Inside Six Nations’ on the BBC News Channel, presented on location on the Friday before each match weekend, building up to the weekend’s action in both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
Commenting on the BBC’s comprehensive Six Nations coverage for 2015, Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, said: “As excitement builds towards this great Championship, we are proud to bring the most extensive coverage of the Six Nations to date across TV, radio and our enhanced digital platforms.
“The BBC cherishes these great sporting moments that bring the nation together, captivating people of all ages and we are delighted to see rugby union’s centerpiece continuing to thrill audiences.”
The BBC holds live rights to screen the RBS 6 Nations exclusively live through to at least 2017.
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There will also be extensive coverage of the 2015 RBS 6 Nations across BBC Wales, BBC Scotland and BBC Northern Ireland.
All Wales internationals will be live on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru, as well as on BBC Wales television. There will be live television coverage of each Wales game for S4C on Clwb Rygbi Rhyngwladol.
In addition, Scrum V will broadcast a Six Nations preview on BBC Two Wales on Sunday, January 31, plus highlights, analysis and debate on each weekend’s action in front of a live studio audience each Sunday evening during the tournament.
BBC Sport Wales website will bring news and views as it happens – including live coverage of each Wales match as it is played along with a big social media presence.
The Scrum V team will take over the Radio Wales Sport programme each Thursday evening, and Yn y Ryc programme on Radio Cymru will preview the weekend’s fixtures each Friday night during the tournament.
BBC Wales TV or S4C will show full live coverage of the Wales U20 team.
BBC Scotland series, Sport XV, will feature a special 6 Nations Preview programme on Sunday, February 1, on BBC Two Scotland.
There will be build-up and full live commentaries for all of Scotland’s games on BBC Radio Scotland in addition to all the latest news and features online, on the BBC Scotland sports website.
BBC Northern Ireland will have all of Ireland’s games live on BBC Radio Ulster with outside broadcasts from home games at the Aviva Stadium.
Ireland games will be streamed live on the BBC Sport website and on the Red Button with an option to listen to the BBC Radio Ulster commentary.
BBC Newsline, BBC Radio Ulster and the BBC Sport NI website will also have extensive preview and analysis of all of Ireland’s games throughout the tournament.
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WEEK 2 Saturday 14th February ENGLAND v ITALY Kick-off: 14:30 | Twickenham, London LIVE: 2.00pm-4.30pm BBC One IRELAND v FRANCE Kick-off: 17:00 | Aviva Stadium, Dublin LIVE: 4.30pm-7.00pm BBC One Sunday 15th February SCOTLAND v WALES Kick-off: 17:00 | Murrayfield, Edinburgh LIVE: 2.30pm-5.00pm BBC One / 2.15pm-5.00pm S4C
WEEK 3 Saturday 28th February SCOTLAND v ITALY Kick-off: 14:30 | Murrayfield, Edinburgh LIVE: 2.00pm-4.30pm BBC One FRANCE v WALES Kick-off: 17:00 | Stade de France, Paris LIVE: 4.30pm-7.00pm BBC One / 4.15pm-7.00pm S4C Sunday 1st March IRELAND v ENGLAND Kick-off: 15:00 | Aviva Stadium, Dublin LIVE: 2.30pm-5.00pm BBC One
WEEK 4 Saturday 14th March WALES v IRELAND Kick-off: 14:30 | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff LIVE: 2.00pm-4.30pm BBC One / 1.45pm-4.30pm S4C ENGLAND v SCOTLAND Kick-off: 17:00 | Twickenham, London LIVE: 4.30pm-7.00pm BBC One Sunday 15th March ITALY v FRANCE Kick-off: 15:00 | Stadio Olimpico, Rome LIVE: 2.30pm-5.00pm BBC One
WEEK 5 Saturday 21st March ITALY v WALES Kick-off: 12:30 | Stadio Olimpico, Rome LIVE: 12.15pm-2.25pm BBC One / 12.00pm-2.30pm S4C SCOTLAND v IRELAND Kick-off: 14:30 | Murrayfield, Edinburgh LIVE: 2.25pm-4.30pm BBC One ENGLAND v FRANCE Kick-off: 17:00 | Twickenham, London LIVE: 4.30pm-7.00pm BBC One England v France – Women’s 6 Nations Kick-off: 19:20 | Twickenham, London LIVE: 7.15pm-9.15pm BBC Red Button
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