Sports Then and Now

Last year’s Six Nations Championship ended up being a rather strange one for each of the teams involved. As the tournament progressed, the threat of Covid-19 became ever clearer, and in the end much of the tournament was forced into postponement. In the end, England didn’t claim the title until October 31^st, over seven months after the competition had originally been scheduled to finish.

For every team, it’s perhaps difficult to read too much into their performances at last year’s Six Nations. It’s fair to say that no particular team stood out, and even though England got their hands on the trophy, heading into the final round of fixtures any of three teams could have ended up winning it, with France and Ireland both in with a shout before England sealed the deal with a win over Italy.

In Ireland’s case, last year’s third-place finish is difficult to analyze given the unique circumstances surrounding their campaign. After all, it was Andy Farrell’s first Six Nations in charge after replacing Joe Schmidt as head coach, and the impact of the pandemic certainly didn’t help as Farrell tried to find his feet in the job.

In Some places, the Rugby Six Nations Championship is bigger than the Super Bowl.

You’d be forgiven—if you are American—for thinking that the entire sporting world fell into awed silence as the brouhaha that is Super Bowl swept along everyone with even the faintest of pulses.

And of course this year’s spectacle had the extra wow factor of an emotional New Orleans back-story: underdog, triumph over adversity, not a dry eye in the house.

For many on the other side of “the pond,” though, that New Orleans back-story was the front story, too, because American football remains an impenetrable anachronism for most of us…well for this particular correspondent, anyway!

So last weekend, our focus was rather more Euro-centred. While the padded up and helmeted Superbowl heroes began their campaign to the predetermined rhythm of the broadcasters’ advertising breaks, its stripped down, bare-knuckled equivalent—the Six Nations Championship—was just getting under way.

This is a competition where deep-rooted loyalties have been determined by the history books, with the English the common foe. It may be hundreds of years since a king Edward or a king Henry strode into Scotland or Wales, Ireland or France, but an unspoken resentment still simmers in the veins.

That complex tapestry of history, married with the visceral sport that is rugby union, makes the Six Nations championship one of the most intense and compelling competitions in sport.

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