Six Nations Women on TV and Stream

While the men’s Six Nations is a much more well-recognised spectacle, in recent years the Women's Six Nations have grown in popularity exponentially. Women's sport on TV, in general, are on the rise but in big rugby nations, most of whom participate in the competition, the Women's Six Nations Championship on TV is tuned in by thousands of people.

Each year, the games popularity increases, as does the action of the game’s intensity. As it approaches its 19^th year, now is as good of a time as any to get up to date with how the event works, so that when it rolls around again in early 2020, you will be ready to watch the Women’s six nations championships on TV with all the necessary knowledge required. All the information you need is found below. What's more, you can be sure you'll never be missing a game with our updated TV sport guide right here!

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Historical Background

The first six nations happened back in 1996. It first started out as a means by which the home nations, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales could compete against one another in an annual tournament. Back then it wasn't known as the Six Nations, but rather the Home International Championship. This was a similar format to the men's competition in its conception. However, the men's completion was founded over 100 years prior to the women’s version.

The four-team format was how it worked for the first 3 years of the competition until 1999, when France joined. At which point it became the 5 nations. One year later, Spain joined the 5 teams to make it 6 and it officially took on the name the 6 nations. For 7 years, it stayed in this format until Italy joined in 2007 and replaced Spain in the tournament. At which point the game became identical to that of the men's. Since then, the team format has not changed and these teams play one another every year.

Championship Format

Due to the small number of participating teams, the competition works in a very linear format. There are no groups stages or knockout rounds and instead, the system simply sees each team play one another once, making 15 games. As there are no away figures, home team advantage varies from year to year. With each team alternating each year who plays at home in that fixture. The games are played over 80 minutes with 15 teams aside, as is the norm.

For much of the history of the competition, points were accumulated at the rate of 2 for a win, 1 for a draw and zero for a loss. However, this was changed in 2017 to the bonus point system, which is the norm for most rugby competitions. As such, 4 points are awarded for a win, 2 for a draw and none for a loss.

While teams who score more than 4 tries in a match get awarded an extra point. As do teams who lose by 7 points or fewer. While this is the norm for most rugby competitions, it differs slightly by the fact that a team who wins a Grand Slam (i.e. beats all the other teams), will be awarded an extra 7 points so that they are guaranteed to finish at the top of the table.

At the end of the competition, whoever has the most points will be crowned the winner. If two teams are tied, then it comes down to point difference, points scored minus point conceded. If this remains a draw, then most tried scored comes into play. If this still remains a tie, then they will share the championship.

With this in mind, if you are schooled up on the Men's Six nations, then you will not noticed any difference in the tournament format when you watch the Women’s six nations championships on TV.

Trophies

It took a full 10 years for the Women's Six Nations to have a trophy to award to the winning team as a prize at the end of the competition. In 2006, it was finally commissioned. It is created out of Sterling Silver complete with the 6 teams emblems engraved on it. There is also a trophy for the under 20s version of the championship.

Venues, Notable Records and Stats

All matches are played at the National Rugby Stadium of that country, so Twickenham for England, the Aviva Stadium for Ireland, the Principality stadium for Wales, Murrayfield for Scotland, The Stade De France for France and the Stadio Flaminio for Italy.

England have by far the best record in the competition and have won 15 out of 24 competitions, which includes 14 grand slams and 20 triple crowns, awarded to the home team who beats the other 3 home nations. They added to all three of these tallies in last year’s competition too.

The top 5 highest ever recorded wins are also held by England, with the biggest ever being an 89-0 win over Scotland in the 2011 competition. Apart from England, three other nations have won, France, 6 times with 5 grand slams, Ireland, twice via 1 grand slam, and Scotland once also via a grand slam.

Players and Top Scorers

In the most recent competition, top players have been dominated by the English team again. In 2019, Katy Daley-McLean was top point scorer, getting herself a whopping 58 points. While Jess Breach was the top try scorer, scoring 9 trys in the competition.

However, a year prior it was dominated by a French player, Jessy Tremouliere, who took home both titles, she scored 64 points in total that included 5 trys, which made her the joint try scorer too, alongside English player, Ellie Kildunne, which helped the French win the 2018 competition.

If this sounds interesting to you, then you need to check out the Women's six nations championships on TV when it rolls out around again next year. While it is a bit dominated by the English at the moment, as the tournaments get a higher profile, as does the competition within it. It is becoming a much more exciting live sports on tv, so you should do your best to find a way in which you can watch it on tv when it comes around in the early part of 2020.