The 2006 Six Nations Championship was the seventh series of the

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 112th series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. This was the fourth edition sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland. This was the last Six Nations to be held before the redevelopment of

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

into today's

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and ...

. Ireland played their 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 Six Nations home fixtures at Croke Park, also in Dublin. In this year, France won the competition on points difference over Ireland. Ireland received the consolation prize of the

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

Trophy, presented for the first time that year, by winning their matches against the other

Home Nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...

: Wales, Scotland and England. Italy once more collected the Wooden Spoon, but showed considerable improvement over past years, earning a first-ever competition point away from home in a draw against Wales. For the first time since 2000, Scotland won the Calcutta Cup.

Participants

Squads

Table

Results

Week 1

---- * This was England's biggest win against Wales since 2002. ---- * This was Scotland's first victory against France at Murrayfield Stadium since 1996. * This was Scotland's first victory against France since

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

. * Scotland won their opening match for the first time in the Six Nations. * This was

Nicolas Brusque Nicolas Brusque (born 7 August 1976 in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) is a French former rugby union footballer. He has played for the French national team, including being a part of their 2003 Rugby World Cup squad. He usually played at fullback. ...

's last game for France.

Week 2

* Ronan O'Gara becomes Ireland's all time top point scorer after converting Andrew Trimble's try. ---- ---- * Steve Walsh showed Scott Murray a red card after he kicked

Ian Gough Ian Gough (born 10 November 1976) is a former Wales international rugby union rugby player. His usual position was lock forward. He made his debut for the Wales national rugby union team against South Africa in 1998, and was a regular thereafter, ...

in the face in a ruck. This was the first red card issued in the Six Nations since

Alessandro Troncon Alessandro Troncon (born 6 September 1973 in Treviso) is a former Italian rugby union player. Troncon is the 6th most capped player in Italian rugby union history, and the first Italian to gain 100 caps. The veteran scrum-half made his Italy deb ...

was sent off against Ireland in 2001. *

Mike Ruddock Mike Ruddock, OBE (born 5 September 1959) is a Welsh rugby union coach who is currently an interim consultant for Ospreys, having previously coached Lansdowne FC . Ruddock was the Director of Rugby at the Worcester Warriors until his resignatio ...

resigned as Wales coach after this match due to a conflict with the Welsh Rugby Union.

Week 3

---- * This was Scotland's first victory against England since

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. * Scotland won the

Calcutta Cup The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy contested be ...

for the first time since

. * England's defeat meant no team was able to win the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

. * Scott Murray's suspension meant he missed his first match in the Championship, bringing to an end a run of 36 consecutive appearances. ---- * This was Wales' biggest defeat against Ireland since 2002.

Week 4

* Italy won their first points in an away match in the competition. * This was the first draw in the Six Nations since Scotland and Wales drew 28–28 in 2001. ---- * This was Ireland's narrowest victory over Scotland since

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

. * This was the last game ever played at

in the Championship. ---- * This was France's biggest victory against England since

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

. *

Florian Fritz Florian Fritz (born 17 January 1984) is a former French rugby union rugby player. His usual position was in the centre. He most played most of his career for Stade Toulousain in the Top 14 club competition in France. Fritz has also played for Fra ...

's opening try was the quickest try scored in the Six Nations.

Week 5

* This was Scotland's highest finish in the Six Nations since 2001. ---- * This was France's fourth consecutive victory at the Millennium Stadium. ---- * This was Ireland's second win in a row at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays ...

. * Ireland won the

. * Ireland needed to win by 34 points to win the Championship.

Scorers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Six Nations 2006 rugby union tournaments for national teams 2006 2005–06 in European rugby union 2005–06 in Irish rugby union 2005–06 in English rugby union 2005–06 in Welsh rugby union 2005–06 in Scottish rugby union 2005–06 in French rugby union 2005–06 in Italian rugby union February 2006 sports events in Europe March 2006 sports events in Europe