2016 Six Nations Championship
| 2016 Six Nations Championship | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 6 February – 19 March 2016 | ||
| Countries | |||
| Tournament statistics | |||
| Champions |  England (27th title) | ||
| Grand Slam | England (13th title) | ||
| Triple Crown | England (25th title) | ||
| Matches played | 15 | ||
| Attendance | 1,034,521 (68,968 per match) | ||
| Tries scored | 71 (4.73 per match) | ||
| Top point scorer(s) | Owen Farrell (69) | ||
| Top try scorer(s) |  George North (4) | ||
| Player of the tournament |  Stuart Hogg | ||
| Official website | Six Nations Website | ||
| |||
The 2016 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2016 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by The Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 17th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship.
It was contested by England, France, defending champions Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Including the competition's previous incarnations as the Home Nations Championship and Five Nations Championship, it was the 122nd edition of the tournament.[1]
England won the Championship on 13 March with a game to play, winning their first Championship since 2011.[2][3][4] On 19 March, they earned the Grand Slam for the 13th time, their first since 2003.[5][6][7]
The 2016 Championship was the first time in the Six Nations era that both the champions and the wooden spoon "winners" had been decided before the final day, as Italy were confirmed to finish in sixth place for the 11th time on 13 March with Scotland's victory over France.[8] Italy went on to lose their final match, and were thus whitewashed for the seventh time. The 29 tries conceded by Italy was also a Championship record, exceeding the 25 tries they conceded in 2000 and 2003.
Participants
[edit]| Nation | Stadium | Head coach | Captain | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home stadium | Capacity | Location | |||
| England | Twickenham Stadium | 82,000 | London |  Eddie Jones | Dylan Hartley |
 France | Stade de France | 81,338 | Saint-Denis | Guy Novès | Guilhem Guirado |
 Ireland | Aviva Stadium | 51,700 | Dublin |  Joe Schmidt | Rory Best |
 Italy | Stadio Olimpico | 73,261 | Rome | Jacques Brunel | Sergio Parisse |
| Scotland | Murrayfield Stadium | 67,144 | Edinburgh | Vern Cotter | Greig Laidlaw |
| Wales | Millennium Stadium | 74,500 | Cardiff | Warren Gatland | Sam Warburton* |
* Except the final match at home against Italy, when Warburton was ruled out due to concussion protocol. Dan Lydiate took his place as captain, with championship vice-captain Alun Wyn Jones also ruled out injured.[9]
Squads
[edit]Story of the tournament
[edit]Round 1 (6–7 February)
[edit]The tournament started with a surprisingly narrow 23–21 win for France over Italy. At one point, Italy had led 18–10 and then 21–20, but a late penalty from Jules Plisson gave France the points.[10] The same day, another tight game saw England retain the Calcutta Cup in a narrow 15–9 win over Scotland, with tries from George Kruis and Jack Nowell.[11] The following day, two of the three tournament favourites, Ireland and Wales, drew 16–16 in Dublin. Ireland had led 13–0 before Wales battled back to lead 16–13. Johnny Sexton's late penalty gave Ireland a share of the spoils.[12]
Round 2 (13–14 February)
[edit]Ireland's defence of the title was damaged further in Week 2 when they were beaten 10–9 in a second successive narrow victory for France. Ireland had led 9–3 from before half-time, but Maxime Médard's 69th minute converted try proved to be the winner.[13] Another comeback later that day saw Wales beat Scotland 27–23 in Cardiff. Scotland had led 13–10 at half time, but tries from Jamie Roberts and George North gave Wales a 27–16 lead before a late Scotland score.[14] On Sunday, England easily beat Italy 40–9 after a tight first half, with Jonathan Joseph scoring a hat-trick of tries.[15]
Round 3 (26–27 February)
[edit]In the Friday evening kick-off, Wales maintained their title hopes with a 19–10 win over France. Another George North try helped them to a comfortable 19–3 lead before a France try in the last minute.[16] On Saturday, Scotland won their first Six Nations game in 10 attempts, winning 36–20 in Rome with Greig Laidlaw kicking 21 points.[17] Ireland's title hopes were extinguished when they were beaten 21–10 by England at Twickenham; Ireland had led 10–6 early in the second half, but conceded 15 unanswered points in 13 minutes with tries by Anthony Watson and Mike Brown.[18]
Round 4 (12–13 March)
[edit]Entering the fourth round of matches, the England-Wales game was touted as a Championship decider,[19] although France – a point behind Wales and two behind England – still had an outside chance of winning it. The first match of the weekend saw Ireland trounce Italy 58–15, running in nine tries.[20] England then beat Wales 25–21 in a thrilling encounter at Twickenham; England had led 25–7 with less than 10 minutes remaining before two converted Wales tries made it a tense ending.[21] England thus won the Triple Crown, and the next day won the Championship outright, as France, needing to win to take the tournament to a final week, lost 29–18 to Scotland in Edinburgh, the Scots' first win over the French in 10 years.[22] In addition to guaranteeing that England would win the tournament, Scotland's victory over France also guaranteed that Italy would finish last and "win" the wooden spoon as a result.
Round 5 (19 March)
[edit]All three matches were played on the same day in the last round, with England needing to win in Paris to complete the Grand Slam for the first time since 2003. In the first match, Wales scored nine tries to easily beat Italy 67–14 in Cardiff, effectively whitewashing Italy; they had lost all five of their matches.[23] Ireland then beat Scotland 35–25 in Dublin in an open game where the sides shared seven tries.[24] In the final game in Paris, England scored two early tries through Danny Care and Dan Cole but the excellent kicking of Maxime Machenaud – who scored all of his side's points with seven penalties – kept France in the game until two late Owen Farrell penalties stretched England's lead to 31–21, enough to win the game and the Grand Slam, and to leave Farrell the leading points scorer in the Championship.[25][26]
Table
[edit]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | T | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 132 | 70 | +62 | 13 | 10 |
| 2 | Wales | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 150 | 88 | +62 | 17 | 7 |
| 3 | Ireland | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 128 | 87 | +41 | 15 | 5 |
| 4 | Scotland | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 122 | 115 | +7 | 11 | 4 |
| 5 | France | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 82 | 109 | −27 | 7 | 4 |
| 6 | Italy | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 79 | 224 | −145 | 8 | 0 |
Fixtures
[edit]Round 1
[edit]| 6 February 2016 15:25 CET (UTC+1) |
| France | 23–21 | Italy |
| Try: Vakatawa 13' m Chouly 32' m Bonneval 59' c Con: Plisson (1/1) 59' Pen: Plisson (2/2) 68', 75' | Report[27] | Try: Parisse 25' m Canna 45' c Con: Canna (1/2) 46' Pen: Canna (1/2) 43' Haimona (1/1) 73' Drop: Canna (1/1) 7' |
| Stade de France, Paris Attendance: 64,000 Referee: JP Doyle (England) |
| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Sébastien Bezy, Yacouba Camara, Jonathan Danty, Paul Jedrasiak, Jefferson Poirot, Virimi Vakatawa (all France), Mattia Bellini, Ornel Gega, Andrea Lovotti, David Odiete, Dries van Schalkwyk and Matteo Zanusso (all Italy) made their international debuts.[28]
- France retained the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy for the third consecutive year.
| 6 February 2016 16:50 GMT (UTC+0) |
| Scotland | 9–15 | England |
| Pen: Laidlaw (3/4) 16', 37', 68' | Report[29] | Try: Kruis 13' c Nowell 50' m Con: Farrell (1/2) 14' Pen: Farrell (1/2) 62' |
| Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Attendance: 67,144 Referee: John Lacey (Ireland) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Zander Fagerson (Scotland) and Jack Clifford (England) made their international debuts.
- England retained the Calcutta Cup.
| 7 February 2016 15:00 GMT (UTC+0) |
| Ireland | 16–16 | Wales |
| Try: Murray 26' c Con: Sexton (1/1) 27' Pen: Sexton (3/3) 4', 13', 74' | Report[30] | Try: Faletau 37' c Con: Priestland (1/1) 38' Pen: Priestland (3/3) 31', 46', 72' |
| Aviva Stadium, Dublin Attendance: 51,700 Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- CJ Stander (Ireland) made his international debut.
- Bradley Davies (Wales) earned his 50th test cap.
- This was the first time that Ireland and Wales had drawn since the 21–21 draw in Cardiff during the 1991 Five Nations Championship.[31]
Round 2
[edit]| 13 February 2016 15:25 CET (UTC+1) |
| France | 10–9 | Ireland |
| Try: Médard 69' c Con: Plisson (1/1) 70' Pen: Plisson (1/2) 31' | Report[32] | Pen: Sexton (3/3) 14', 28', 38' |
| Stade de France, Paris Attendance: 78,000 Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Camille Chat (France) made his international debut.
- This was France's first victory over Ireland since their 26–22 win during the 2011 Rugby World Cup warm-up matches.
| 13 February 2016 16:50 GMT (UTC+0) |
| Wales | 27–23 | Scotland |
| Try: G. Davies 6' c Roberts 64' c North 70' c Con: Biggar (3/3) 7', 64', 71' Pen: Biggar (2/2) 34', 46' | Report[33] | Try: Seymour 12' c Taylor 78' c Con: Laidlaw (1/1) 13' Weir (1/1) 79' Pen: Laidlaw (3/3) 30', 40', 54' |
| Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 74,160 Referee: George Clancy (Ireland) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Jonathan Davies (Wales) earned his 50th test cap.
- This was Scotland's ninth consecutive loss in the competition, their worst run of losses ever in the six-team format.[34]
| 14 February 2016 15:00 CET (UTC+1) |
| Italy | 9–40 | England |
| Pen: Canna (3/4) 8', 18', 35' | Report[35] | Try: Ford 24' m Joseph (3) 52' c, 57' c, 70' m Farrell 74' c Con: Farrell (3/5) 53', 58', 75' Pen: Farrell (2/2) 11', 62' Ford (1/1) 16' |
| Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 70,000 Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Braam Steyn and Edoardo Padovani (both Italy), Paul Hill and Maro Itoje (both England) made their international debuts.
Round 3
[edit]| 26 February 2016 20:05 GMT (UTC+0) |
| Wales | 19–10 | France |
| Try: North 45' Con: Biggar (1/1) 47' Pen: Biggar (4/5) 21', 30', 42', 65' | Report[36] | Try: Guirado 78' Con: Trinh-Duc (1/1) 79' Pen: Plisson (1/2) 33' |
| Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 74,160 Referee: Wayne Barnes (England) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Djibril Camara and Vincent Pelo (France) made their international debuts.
| 27 February 2016 15:25 CET (UTC+1) |
| Italy | 20–36 | Scotland |
| Try: Ghiraldini 29' c Fuser 62' c Con: Haimona (2/2) 30', 63' Pen: Haimona (2/2) 9', 49' | Report[37] | Try: Barclay 9' c Hardie 16' c Seymour 77' Con: Laidlaw (3/3) 10', 17', 78' Pen: Laidlaw (5/6) 25', 45', 53', 58', 65' |
| Stadio Olimpico, Rome Attendance: 67,721 Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Edoardo Gori (Italy) earned his 50th test cap.
- The 36 points scored by Scotland was the most they have scored in any Six Nations game.[38]
| 27 February 2016 16:50 GMT (UTC+0) |
| England | 21–10 | Ireland |
| Try: Watson 57' m Brown 62' c Con: Farrell (1/2) 63' Pen: Farrell (3/4) 11', 34', 50' | Report[39] | Try: Murray 45' c Con: Sexton (1/1) 46' Pen: Sexton (1/1) 5' |
| Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 81,826 Referee: Romain Poite (France) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Ultan Dillane, Stuart McCloskey and Josh van der Flier (all Ireland), Elliot Daly (England) made their international debuts.
- England regained the Millennium Trophy, having lost it in 2015.
Round 4
[edit]| 12 March 2016 13:30 GMT (UTC+0) |
| Ireland | 58–15 | Italy |
| Try: Trimble 6' m McGrath 14' c Stander 29' m Heaslip (2) 39' m, 48' c Payne 42' c Cronin 53' c Madigan 63' m McFadden 78' c Con: Sexton (3/6) 14', 43', 49' Madigan (2/3) 54', 79' Pen: Sexton (1/1) 26' | Report[40] | Try: Odiete 57' Sarto 74' m Con: Haimona (1/2) 58' Pen: Padovani (1/1) 23' |
| Aviva Stadium, Dublin Attendance: 51,700 Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Finlay Bealham (Ireland), Oliviero Fabiani, Pietro Ceccarelli and Alberto Lucchese (all Italy) made their international debuts.
- Seán Cronin (Ireland) earned his 50th test cap.
- Sergio Parisse equalled Martin Castrogiovanni's record as Italy's most capped player.[41]
- The nine tries scored by Ireland is the most tries they have scored in a Six Nations match.[42]
| 12 March 2016 16:00 GMT (UTC+0) |
| England | 25–21 | Wales |
| Try: Watson 31' c Con: Farrell (1/1) 32' Pen: Farrell (6/6) 9', 18', 20', 45', 65', 67' | Report[43] | Try: Biggar 53' c North 73' c Faletau 76' c Con: Biggar (1/1) 54' Priestland (2/2) 74', 77' |
| Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 81,916 Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- England secured their 25th Triple Crown trophy; the previous one was in 2014.
| 13 March 2016 15:00 GMT (UTC+0) |
| Scotland | 29–18 | France |
| Try: Hogg 32' m Taylor 35' c Visser 65' m Con: Laidlaw (1/3) 37' Pen: Laidlaw (3/3) 15', 21', 74' Hogg (1/1) 46' | Report[44] | Try: Guirado 4' m Fickou 40' c Con: Machenaud (1/1) 40' Pen: Machenaud (2/2) 51', 57' |
| Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Attendance: 67,500 Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Greig Laidlaw (Scotland) earned his 50th test cap, and equalled David Sole's record of 25 matches as Scottish captain.[45]
- Scotland beat France for the first time since their 20–16 victory at Murrayfield during the 2006 Six Nations Championship.[46]
- This was also Scotland's first win at Murrayfield in the Six Nations since they beat Ireland in round three of the 2013 Championship, breaking a 7-game losing streak at home.
- France's loss guaranteed that England won the championship. This was the first time that a nation has been sure of winning the championship title before their final match during the competition's current six-team format.
- Scotland's win also guaranteed Italy would win the "wooden spoon" for coming last. This was also the first time that a nation has been confirmed as coming bottom of the Championship table before their final match in the competition's current six-team format.
Round 5
[edit]| 19 March 2016 14:30 GMT (UTC+0) |
| Wales | 67–14 | Italy |
| Try: Webb 4' c Biggar 28' c J. Davies 32' c Roberts 44' m North 48' c Williams 56' c Moriarty (2) 64' c, 78' c G. Davies 80+2' c Con: Biggar (5/6) 4', 29', 32', 49', 58' Priestland (3/3) 65', 79', 80+2' Pen: Biggar (2/2) 14', 20' | Report[47] | Try: Palazzani 53' c Garcia 61' c Con: Haimona (2/2) 54', 62' |
| Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 74,160 Referee: Romain Poite (France) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Jacopo Sarto (Italy) made his international debut.
- Wales' 53-point margin of victory was their biggest winning margin over Italy, surpassing the previous record of 41 set during the previous 2015 tournament.
- This was Wales' biggest winning margin in a Six Nations match, surpassing the 48-point winning margin set against Scotland in 2014.
| 19 March 2016 17:00 GMT (UTC+0) |
| Ireland | 35–25 | Scotland |
| Try: Stander 27' c Earls 30' m Murray 47' c Toner 68' c Con: Sexton (3/4) 28', 49', 68' Pen: Sexton (3/4) 5', 12', 17' | Report[48] | Try: Hogg 19' c Gray 55' c Dunbar 77' m Con: Laidlaw (2/3) 20', 55' Pen: Laidlaw (2/2) 14', 40' |
| Aviva Stadium, Dublin Attendance: 51,700 Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (France) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- Ireland retained the Centenary Quaich for the third consecutive year.
- Rory Sutherland (Scotland) made his international debut.
- Keith Earls (Ireland) and John Barclay (Scotland) earned their 50th test caps.
- Ross Ford (Scotland) made his 100th international appearance; 99 for Scotland, 1 for the British and Irish Lions.
| 19 March 2016 21:00 CET (UTC+1) |
| France | 21–31 | England |
| Pen: Machenaud (7/7) 2', 15', 28', 39', 43', 50', 58' | Report[49] | Try: Care 11' c Cole 19' c Watson 55' m Con: Farrell (2/3) 12', 20' Pen: Farrell (4/5) 4', 44', 71', 77' |
| Stade de France, Paris Attendance: 78,750 Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales) |
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| Man of the Match: Touch judges: |
Notes:
- England secured their first Grand Slam since the 2003 Six Nations Championship
- Owen Farrell became England's second-highest points scorer in history, behind only Jonny Wilkinson and overtaking Paul Grayson.
Statistics
[edit] Points scorers[edit]
| Try scorers[edit]
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