Six Nations

The Six Nations Championship pits five nations with a fantastic rugby tradition against one another, and also includes Italy so that the other five teams can get at least one win in the competition and feel better about themselves. This is a slight exaggeration as Italy have in fact notched up 7 victories since the Five Nations tournament expanded to include them (they have played 55 matches in total as of 2010).

The other nations that compete in the Northern Hemisphere's premiere rugby event are France, Ireland, England, Wales, and Scotland in descending order of success and ability in the competition.

France have won 41 of their 55 Six Nations matches and are usually warm betting favourites to win the championship. There have been 11 tournaments in the current format featuring six countries and the French have won 5 of them. They have also managed three Grand Slams in that time.

England have won three Six Nations titles, Wales are two-time champions, and Ireland won it all with a feisty effort in 2009 that also saw them complete a Grand Slam of victories.

Scotland have a dismal record in this event with a record of only 11 wins in their 55 games. They did however win the last Five Nations championship ever played (in 1999), and no one can take that away from them, can they?

There has been some talk of Georgia joining the competition to make it a Seven Nations event, but the dire lack of depth in Northern Hemisphere rugby makes this problematic as the tournament would once again be diluted. It remains to be seen whether the inclusion of Italy will prove wise as they have made slow progress in the first decade of participation.

Six Nations betting is extremely popular with many markets on offer for individual games as well as for the overall tournament winner, the leading points scorer, and proposition bets such as whether there will be a Grand Slam winner or not.

Six Nations rugby betting for matches usually takes the format of a points handicap, so that when France plays Italy for example a bet on the Italians would be + a certain number of points to make the contest even from a betting perspective. Rugby punters can then place straight wagers on the winner or spread bets on the margin of victory. One can also bet on the total number of points scored, how many tries there will be, and even spread bets on the shirt numbers of the try scorers.

We have a shortlist of the most trusted online bookies and sports betting websites that offer Six Nations betting markets, and remember to check back here regularly for the latest Six Nations rugby news and results.