The 2022 Six Nations Rugby Championship takes place between February 5th and March 19th with this being the 23rd edition of the annual rugby union event. As usual, the six nations competing are Wales, Scotland, Ireland, England, France and Italy with Wales entering the tournament as the defending champions. The event was formerly known as the Home Nations Championship and the Five Nations Championship, making this the 128th edition of the tournament overall.
England will be playing their home games at Twickenham in London with Eddie Jones as the team’s head coach and Courtney Lawes as it’s captain.
France will be using the Stade de France in Saint-Denis as its home turf with Fabien Galthié as the head coach and Antoine Dupont as the acting skipper.
Ireland will be playing home matches at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin with Andy Farrell as the head coach and Jonathan Sexton as captain.
The Stadio Olimpico in Rome will host Italy’s home matches with Kieran Crowley as head coach and Michele Lamaro as the skipper.
Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium will be used for Scotland’s home games with Gregor Townsend as the head coach and Stuart Hogg as team captain.
Wales will play out of the Principality Stadium in Cardiff with the head coach being Wayne Pivac and Dan Biggar as the squad’s skipper.
The nations each play one another once with teams earning four points for a victory, two points for a draw and none for a loss. If a team scores four or more tries during a game or is beaten by seven points or fewer it will be awarded a bonus point in the standings. Therefore, if a team loses by seven or fewer points and manages to score at least four tries in a contest they will receive two bonus points at the end of the match.
If a nation manages to win all five of its games, which is known as a Grand Slam, it will be awarded three bonus points in the standings, guaranteeing the squad first place.
If two or more of the nations finish event with the same number of points, the team with the greater points difference in its five games will be given the higher spot. The difference is determined by the number of points the teams scored and conceded during the five games.
If teams are still tied after the first tiebreaker, the side which scored more tries (including penalty tries) will be given the higher spot in the standings. If the teams are still level after this second tiebreaker, then the nations will share the same spot in the standings. This means it’s possible that the Six Nations Championship could actually be shared by more than one team.
The tournament kicks off at Aviva Stadium in Dublin on February 5th with Ireland hosting the reigning champions from Wales and is followed the same day with England visiting Scotland. The final games will be played on March 19th when Wales hosts Italy, Scotland visits Ireland and France welcomes England to Saint-Denis.
This popular rugby union tournament was launched as the Home Nations Championship in 1883 between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland and became the Five Nations Championship in 1910 when France was invited. The event then evolved into the Six Nations Championship in 2000 when Italy was included. England and Wales lead the way with the most championships with 39 each (outright and shared titles) and are followed by France with 25 and Ireland and Scotland at 22. Italy has yet to win the Six Nations tournament.
The current bet365 odds list France as the favorites to win the Six Nations tournament at +150, followed by England at +275, Ireland at +300, Scotland and Wales both at +1000 and Italy as the decided underdogs at +100,000.
You can also wager on several other aspects of the tournament such as to finish bottom of the table, to earn a Grand Slam or Triple Crown, a top-two finish, a bottom-two finish, the top-scoring nation and total wins etc.
And of course you’ll also be able to bet on each individual game of the Six Nations tournament at bet365 with numerous types of wagers being available.