2024 Six Nations Preview

One of international rugby’s most anticipated tournaments is set to finally get underway on Friday evening.

It is only a matter of days until the 2024 edition of the prestigious Guinness Six Nations finally gets underway, with the latest Championship starting with a game between France and reigning Champions Ireland on Friday, 2nd February 2024. The action then comes to a close with the fifth and final week of fixtures, with the final game being played at the Groupama Stadium on Saturday, 16th March 2024.

A game between France and England is set to be the closing game of the 2024 Six Nations Championship, which is underway at 20:00.

The Six Nations can find its roots in what was known as the ‘Home Nations’, which began in 1883. It was won by England, who also won the triple crown and the Calcutta Cup. Another tournament win came a year later, in 1884. The Home Nations ended in 1909, with the tournament renamed the Five Nations in 1910.

It was in 1910 that France came along to participate for the first time. England won that year’s tournament and Calcutta Cup, with France being ‘awarded’ the Wooden Spoon for finishing last that year.

It was in the year 2000 that the Championship would expand once again. At the turn of the century, this tournament was renamed to how it is known today – the Six Nations – which is a result of the addition of Italy. England won three of the first four editions of the Six Nations, winning it in 2000, 2001 and 2003. France stopped England from winning four from four by emerging victorious back in 2002.

Over the years, England has won the most Guinness Six Nations titles, with no less than 7 in all. Their wins have come in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2016, 2017 and most recently in 2020. They are closely followed by France and Wales, who have 6 each, whilst Ireland has 5 to their name to date. Only Scotland and Italy have yet to win this championship.

Ireland are the current holders of the Six Nations after finishing top of the 2023 standings, with no less than 27 points from winning all 5 matches. They were followed by France (2nd, 20 pts), Scotland (3rd, 15 pts), England (4th, 10 pts), Wales (5th, 6 pts) and 2023 Wooden Spoon winners Italy (6th, 1 pt).

Now, with the 2024 Guinness Six Nations a matter of hours away, let’s preview the tournament, starting with the opening game.

The inaugural game of the 2024 Championship will see France take on 2023 Champions Ireland at the iconic Stade Velodrome in Marseille on Friday 2nd, February. The game will get underway at 20:00, and it will see France trying to prevent Ireland from getting the defence of their Six Nations title off to the best of starts.

Steve Borthwick will then want his England side to get off to the best possible start as they look to not only improve on last year’s fourth place finish, but also to win their first Six Nations Championship since 2020. Their first game will be played against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, 3rd February 2024. The game starts at 14:15 on Saturday afternoon.

The final game of the opening week of 2024 Guinness Six Nations action will see Wales come face to face with Scotland on Saturday 3rd, February (16:45). Gregor Townsend’s Scotland will look to improve further on 2023’s 3rd place finish against Warren Gatland’s side, who will want to improve on a fifth place finish in last year’s Championship.

The second round of fixtures then starts a week later, with Scotland facing last year’s runners-up in the form of France at Murrayfield on Saturday 10th, February at 14:15. This would be followed by England against Wales at Twickenham Stadium at 16:45 on the same day. Both games are pivotal to the fate of either nation in this year’s Six Nations Championship.

Ireland then faces Italy at the Aviva Stadium in the final game of round two on Sunday, 11th February 2024, at 15:00.

We then move on to round three, which will see the Calcutta Cup take place. Following Ireland’s game with Wales at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, 24th February (14:15), Scotland and England will then go head to head for the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield on that same day, with this contest getting started at 16:45 on Saturday afternoon.

France and Italy then meet at 15:00 on Sunday 25th February 2024 at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

The fourth and penultimate round of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations then gets underway a week later on Saturday, 9th March 2024. The first game of that weekend will be Italy against Scotland at the Stadio Olimpico (14:15), followed by England taking on reigning Champions Ireland in a high profile and crucial game later that same day at 16:45 on Saturday afternoon.

Wales and France play against each other at the Principality Stadium at 15:00 on Sunday, 10th March 2024.

We now come into the fifth and final round of fixtures, where by the end of it, we will know for certain who the 2024 Guinness Six Nations winners are (although it is, of course, possible for this to be confirmed earlier). The last round of action starts with Wales playing Italy at 14:15 on Saturday, 16th March, at the Principality Stadium.

Ireland then faces Scotland later on Saturday afternoon at the Aviva Stadium (16:45) before the 2024 Guinness Six Nations Championship comes to a close with Borthwick’s England facing France on the evening of Saturday, 16th March, at the Groupama Stadium at 20:00.

Excitement and anticipation are building rapidly ahead of this year’s Championship getting underway on Friday 2nd, February at 20:00.

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