The RBS 6 Nations Championship, one of Europe’s biggest annual sporting events, will once again broadcast LIVE on BBC AMERICA. The legendary rugby tournament features England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and Wales in a round-robin tournament for bragging rights over Europe. This year's coverage includes five matches that included every team in the competition, except for Italy.
England and France lead the coverage with three matches apiece, Wales makes two appearances, while Ireland and Scotland each make one appearance on the BBC America coverage.
The 6 Nations was founded in 1883 as the Home International Championship, comprising England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. France officially joined the tournament in 1910 and the name changed to the 5 Nations where it stayed until 2000 when Italy joined the competition.
Several individual competitions take place under the umbrella of the Six Nations tournament.
The oldest is the Calcutta Cup, which has been running since 1879 and is contested annually between England and Scotland.
The Millennium Trophy has been awarded to the winner of the game between England and Ireland with the first presented in 1989, and in the same year, the Centenary Quaich was contested between Ireland and Scotland for the first time.
Since 2007, France and Italy have also contested for their own silverware - the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy. It was created to honor the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Garibaldi who helped unify Italy and was also a French military general.
Tournament coverage begins on February 2nd with England taking on Scotland. England is coming off a monumental victory over the All Blacks at the end of the Fall Test Series. Scotland is looking to change their fortune after a disastrous fall that included a loss to Tonga and a coaching change. Former USA Eagles Head Coach, Scott Johnson, is now at the helm for the Scots. England last brought home the 6 Nations title in 2011 while Scotland hasn't finished higher than 5th since 2006.
Last year on the final day of the tournament, Wales beat France 16-9 to finish undefeated and win the Grand Slam. England placed second in the tournament followed by Ireland, France, and Italy. Scotland were condemned to the Wooden Spoon with their last place finish.
BBC AMERICA’S LIVE BBC BROADCASTS:
Saturday, February 2, 11:00am ET - England v Scotland
Saturday, February 9, 12:00pm ET - France v Wales
Saturday, February 23, 12:00pm ET - England v France
Saturday, March 9, 12:00pm ET - Ireland v France
Saturday, March 16, 1:00pm ET - Wales v England
6 interesting facts about the RBS 6 Nations Trophy:
1. The Trophy is made of 200 ounces of sterling silver.
2. There are fifteen sides to the Trophy, representing each player, and three handles representing each official (referee and two touch judges).
3. Around the wooden base of the Trophy is the emblem of each of the six national unions.
4. The handle, or finial, on the lid is interchangeable and represents the current champions.
5. The finials of the five challenging teams are kept in a hidden drawer in the plinth throughout the Championship.
6. The capacity of the Trophy is exactly five bottles of champagne, one for each of the original Five Nations, and the trophy has a lip at the rim, designed so that it is easy to drink from.
To learn more about the 6 Nations Championship, please visit http://www.rbs6nations.com
I thought some other network had bought the rights for US broadcast. NBC? Fox? What a pity if this is true, as BBC is stingy with what they show. I'm tired of ONE game per week, and had hoped that another network would step in to increase the offerings.
ReplyDeleteBBC America has the rights to LIVE broadcasts. Universal Sports will air every match DELAYED. There in lies the difference.
DeleteThe author of this blog does a pretty poor job when it comes to confusion. Not the first time. He should have mentioned Universal Sports will air every match delayed. Here's a link to their schedule: http://universalsports.com/2013/01/11/2013-rugby-schedule-on-universal-sports/
DeleteThis article had nothing to do with Universal Sports, so I don't see why there is any reason to mention their coverage. If I had written an article about 6 Nations coverage in America in general, then it would have made perfect sense to include Universal. This is just about the BBC coverage, so no mention of Universal. There is nothing misleading or confusing about this article. It has the BBC schedule, nothing more, nothing less.
Deletehurray this makes me happy, i didnt want to pay just to watch a few matches on fox soccer, hopefully nbc or cbs will eventually pick up a couple of games down the road. the only thing im mad about is that ireland will only be on once, wish they would show more and give every team 2 games on air.
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest thing that BBC America brings to the table is the pre and post match coverage, which is much better than the American rugby broadcasts. Its great hearing strategy and analysis from former internationals and coaches.
ReplyDeleteThis is disappointing - only 5 games! Stupid decision by the BBC, I think. Rugby brings new audience to their channel, people who don't regularly watch it (like me). They should show more games!
ReplyDeleteBBC America has the rights to LIVE broadcasts. Universal Sports will air every match DELAYED. There in lies the difference.
DeleteSo, why don't they broadcast every match live then if they have the rights? There is never a point where there are two matches being played simultaneously so they have no excuse not to. All the matches would be way better than the endless repeats of Top Gear (which I like) and Dr Who etc
DeleteI would love for BBC America to be much more British and show more UK content. I love Top Gear and cannot wait for the Six Nations Rugby matches. But when I see "Start Trek Next Gen" on BBC America and not real British content I think, "Why even have this channel?". The excuse I have heard is that we dont pay the TV license fee that they do in the UK... well, you have already made the shows and paid for the content and WE have commercials here. Show us some REAL British shows and way way more Rugby!!
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DeleteI complained to them last year and got a pretty pathetic semi-canned response back. There simply is no excuse for them not to provide new live content that people want instead of endless repeats. Apparently, they have the rights to the live broadcasts so it's idiotic that they don't show them.
Thankfully I can stream BBC from Europe on a Slingbox so I don't miss any of the matches, but the quality is lower when streaming than when watching cable.
Regarding the NBC coverage, while I applaud their efforts to show more rugby in general, showing a game 36 hours after it starts is a bit more than 'delayed'.
ReplyDeleteI will add my voice to the disappointed also. Shows live on saturday, ie 9am to noon and I am at work, and then its ripper street and graham norton for rest of the weekend? seriously? I cant even catch a rerun in the middle of the night, whats that all about. I was all set to show case some rugby with my American buddies with a slab of beer but it seems i will have to wait for my blighty mates to send over a burned dvd from their sky plus boxes. Is that copyright abuse? sue me!
ReplyDeleteGet DirectTv Choice package and watch ALL the Super-15 rugby games LIVE and in HD starting 15 Feb. 2013 on channel 290-1... Just loveee my DirecTv because of this!!!
ReplyDeleteSo when a pub in the US is showing the non-BBC covered matches live, are they doing so from DirecTV? Or something else? I've been calling round a bunch of pubs in NYC asking if they're playing and they say "only if it's on regular cable". If anyone has suggestions for NYC in the downtown area that's not the Red Lion (which i like but will be HEAVING) i'm all ears...
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