Looking back at 2023 Six Nations

With the start of the 2024 Guinness Six Nations getting underway in two weeks’ time, here we take a look back at last year’s tournament.

The Guinness Six Nations is rugby’s most prestigious international tournament, and the 2024 edition of this iconic competition is set to get underway on Friday, 2nd February 2024. The opening game of this year’s Six Nations will see France take on reigning Champions Ireland at the Stade Velodrome, with the game getting underway at 20:00

Steve Borthwick has announced his England squad for the 2024 Guinness Six Nations, which was revealed on Wednesday morning. England’s opening fixture will see them come face to face with Italy at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, 3rd February 2024 – the game gets underway at 14:15 in the afternoon.

With the build-up continuing and the excitement for the action to get underway growing, here we will look back at all of the action from the most recent Six Nations Championships back in 2023.

The opening round of matches saw the following games take place from 4th to 5th February: Wales v Ireland, England v Scotland and Italy v France. In the opening match, Ireland started as they meant to go on with an emphatic 43 – 10 victory against Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

The 2023 Six Nations was Steve Borthwick’s first as England Head Coach, and his team were unfortunately on the wrong end of a 23 – 29 defeat against Scotland at Twickenham in their opening game of the tournament. France emerged as 24 – 29 winners against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in what was the third and final game of the first round of matches.

The second round of matches at last year’s Six Nations were played from Saturday 11th February to Sunday 12th February 2023.

Ireland made it two wins from two with an emphatic 32 – 19 win at the Aviva Stadium against France. Hugo Keenan, Garry Ringrose, Andrew Porter, and James Lowe scored tries for Andy Farrell’s team. Scotland also made it two wins from two against Wales, who they beat 35 – 7 at Murrayfield.

On Sunday, 12th November, England made up for their opening match disappointment when they emerged as 31 – 14 winners against Italy. Ollie Chessum, Jack Willis, Henry Arundell and Jamie George scored the tries for Borthwick’s side that day.

Ireland were in ruthless form in this tournament, and they secured a third successive win in the third round of matches. Italy were beaten 20 – 34 at the Stadio Olimpico, with Bundee Aki, Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen (2) and James Ryan all scoring tries for Andy Farrell’s side.

Steve Borthwick also secured another win, a second in a row, this time against Wales, who were beaten 10 – 20 by England at the Principality Stadium. Ollie Lawrence, Anthony Watson and Kyle Sinckler scored the tries.

The final match of round three was between France and Scotland. France were 32 – 21 winners at Paris’ Stade de France, and it was Thomas Ramos, Ethan Dumortier, Romain Ntamack and Gael Fickou who got the tries for the French that day.

Round Four got underway on Saturday, 11th March 2023. Wales secured their first win of the tournament in Rome, beating Italy 17 – 29 at the Stadio Olimpico. Taulupe Faletau, Liam Williams, and Rio Dyer scored tries for Warren Gatland’s side.

Then, unfortunately for Steve Borthwick’s England, France was in a ruthless mood at Twickenham, with this match following Wales’ win over Italy. France won 10 – 53, with Damian Penaud (2), Thomas Ramos, Charles Ollivon (2) and Thibaud Flament (2) all getting tries for them. Freddie Steward got England’s only try of the game.

Ireland made it four wins from four in the final game of round four, beating Scotland 7 – 22 at Murrayfield on Sunday, 12th March 2023. Jack Conan, Mack Hansen and James Lowe got the tries for Farrell’s side, whilst Huw Jones scored Scotland’s only try of the contest.

The fifth and final round of matches in the 2023 Guinness Six Nations all took place on Saturday, 18th March 2023, starting with Scotland against Italy at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.

Blair Kinghorn scored three tries, with Duhan Van Der Merwe also scoring a try to help guide Scotland to a vital 26 – 14 win at Murrayfield. Italy’s sole try of the contest came through Tommaso Allan.

France emphatically defeated Warren Gatland’s Wales on the final day of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations. Damian Penaud (2), Gael Fickou, Uini Atonio and Jonathan Danty all scored tries

to help their team to an emphatic 41 – 28 victory. George North, Rio Dyer, Tomos Williams, and Bradley Roberts scored tries for Wales that day.

The other game to take place on the final day of the tournament was between Ireland and England at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Ireland made it five wins from five with a 29 – 16 win, with Dan Sheehan (2), Robbie Henshaw and Rob Herring all scoring tries for Farrell’s side. Jamie George scored the only try of the game for Steve Borthwick’s side.

After winning all their matches in the 2023 Guinness Six Nations, Ireland was crowned as Champions for the 5th time with 27 points from 5 matches. Their previous Six Nations triumphs had come in: 2009, 2014, 2015 and in 2018.

With Ireland finishing first, the rest of the final 2023 standings were as follows: France (2nd, 20 points), Scotland (3rd, 15 points), England (4th, 10 points), Wales (5th, 6 points) and then Italy (6th, 1 point).

We now look ahead to the 2024 Guinness Six Nations, which are set to finally get underway on Friday 2nd February 2024. Will Ireland retain their title, or will someone else be crowned as the winner? Steve Borthwick’s England will be looking to improve on their 2023 Six Nations campaign.

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