The 2025 Six Nations Championship should prove to be one of the most open in years with four teams holding genuine title aspirations – Ireland, France, England and Scotland. And although Wales and Italy are considered outsiders by the bookmakers, they both have the ability to cause upsets, especially on home soil.
Ireland are the reigning champions, their only defeat last year coming at the hands of England at Twickenham. This year, the Irish not only welcome Steve Borthwick’s men to Dublin but also host France, which is a huge advantage in their hunt for three Six Nations titles in a row. There is an element of jeopardy, however, due to head coach Andy Farrell’s unavailability. Farrell has handed over the Irish reins, on an interim basis, to Simon Easterby so that he can focus on planning for the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia.
When does the Six Nations start?
The first match is on Friday, January 31 – France against Wales. There are two consecutive weekends of Six Nations action (Jan 31-Feb 1, Feb 8-9), then a week’s break, another weekend of fixtures (Feb 22-23), another week-long break and then the final two weekends of games run consecutively (Mar 8-9, Mar 15).
Fixtures: full schedule
(All times GMT)
Round one
Fri, Jan 31: France v Wales, Stade de France, 8.15pm, ITV
Sat, Feb 1: Scotland v Italy, Murrayfield, 2.15pm, BBC
Sat, Feb 1: Ireland v England, Aviva Stadium, 4.45pm, ITV
Round two
Sat, Feb 8: Italy v Wales, Stadio Olimpico, 2.15pm, ITV
Sat, Feb 8: England v France, Twickenham, 4.45pm, ITV
Sun, Feb 9: Scotland v Ireland, Murrayfield, 3pm, BBC
Round three
Sat, Feb 22: Wales v Ireland, Principality Stadium, 2.15pm, BBC
Sat, Feb 22: England v Scotland, Twickenham, 4.45pm, ITV
Sun, Feb 23: Italy v France, Stadio Olimpico, 3pm, ITV
Round four
Sat, Mar 8: Ireland v France, Aviva Stadium, 2.15pm, ITV
Sat, Mar 8: Scotland v Wales, Murrayfield, 4.45pm, BBC
Sun, Mar 9: England v Italy, Twickenham, 3pm, ITV
Round five
Sat, Mar 15: Italy v Ireland, Stadio Olimpico, 2.15pm, ITV
Sat, Mar 15: Wales v England, Principality Stadium, 4.45pm, BBC
Sat, Mar 15: France v Scotland, Stade de France, 8pm, ITV
What TV channels are matches on?
The BBC and ITV will once again share coverage in the UK, with S4C offering Welsh language options. France Television will be the home of the Championship for French fans. RTE and Virgin Media will once again cover the games in Ireland. In Italy, Sky Italia continues its coverage of the Championship.
Radio coverage of the whole championship is available on BBC Radio 5 Live.
This may yet be the last year that every match of the Six Nations is shown on free-to-air terrestrial television in the UK. The existing broadcast deal with ITV and the BBC only runs to the end of this year’s tournament. It is understood that tournament organisers are considering bids from pay-TV broadcasters like TNT Sports or Sky Sports. A move behind a paywall became a possibility when the government opted not to continue designate the Six Nations as a “crown jewel” event.
When do Six Nations tickets go on sale?
Tickets went on sale last year. If any are still available, they are for sale via the host nation for each fixtures.
What happened to the Six Nations logo?
It was redesigned at the end of last year and launched amid much mockery. Supporters have variously compared the new version to the Mars logo, a Looney Tunes advert and Microsoft Word Art.
What are the best of the latest odds?
Ireland 15/8
France 7/4
England 9/2
Scotland 13/2
Wales 80/1
Italy 250/1
The Six Nations squads in full
England
Forwards: Fin Baxter, Ollie Chessum, Arthur Clark, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Chandler Cunningham-South, Ben Curry, Tom Curry, Theo Dan, Ben Earl, Ellis Genge, Joe Heyes, Ted Hill, Maro Itoje (c), Curtis Langdon, George Martin, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Henry Pollock, Bevan Rodd, Will Stuart, Tom Willis.
Backs: Oscar Beard, Elliot Daly, Fraser Dingwall, George Ford, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Alex Mitchell, Cadan Murley, Raffi Quirke, Harry Randall, Tom Roebuck, Henry Slade, Ollie Sleightholme, Fin Smith, Marcus Smith, Ben Spencer, Freddie Steward.
France
Forwards: Esteban Abadie, Dorian Aldegheri, Gregory Alldritt, Uini Atonio, Hugo Auradou, Cyril Baille, Giorgi Beria, Paul Boudehent, Joshua Brennan, Georges-Henri Colombe, Francois Cros, Thibaud Flament, Marko Gazzotti, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Mickaël Guillard, Matthias Halagahu, Oscar Jegou, Maxime Lamothe, Julien Marchand, Peato Mauvaka, Emmanuel Meafou, Dany Priso, Rabah Slimani, Romain Taofifénua.
Backs: Theo Attissogbe, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Leo Barre, Nicolas Depoortere, Gael Drean, Antoine Dupont (c), Antoine Frisch, Emilien Gailleton, Matthieu Jalibert, Nolann le Garrec, Maxime Lucu, Yoram Moefana, Noah Nene, Romain Ntamack, Damien Penaud, Thomas Ramos, Killian Tixeront, Gabin Villiere.
Italy
Forwards: Lorenzo Cannone, Niccolo Cannone, Riccardo Favretto, Simone Ferrari, Danilo Fischetti, Alessandro Izekor, Dino Lamb, Michele Lamaro, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Sebastian Negri, Giacomo Nicotera, Marco Ricconi, Luca Rizzoli, Federico Ruzza, Ross Vintcent, Giosue Zilocchi, Manuel Zuliani.
Backs: Tommaso Allan, Juan Ignacio Brex, Ange Capuozzo, Matt Gallagher, Alessandro Garbisi, Paolo Garbisi, Simone Gesi, Monty Ioane, Leonardo Marin, Tommaso Menoncello, Martin Page-Relo, Jacopo Trulla, Stephen Varney.
Ireland
Forwards: Ryan Baird, Finlay Bealham, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Boyle, Thomas Clarkson, Jack Conan, Caelan Doris (c), Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Cormac Izuchukwu, Rónan Kelleher, Gus McCarthy, Joe McCarthy, Peter O’Mahony, Andrew Porter, Cian Prendergast, James Ryan, Dan Sheehan, Josh van der Flier.
Backs: Bundee Aki, Caolin Blade, Jack Crowley, Ciaran Frawley, Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen, Robbie Henshaw, Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Conor Murray, Calvin Nash, Jimmy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Sam Prendergast, Garry Ringrose.
Scotland
Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Josh Bayliss, Jamie Bhatti, Gregor Brown, Dave Cherry, Luke Crosbie, Rory Darge (cc), Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Patrick Harrison, Will Hurd, Jack Mann, D’Arcy Rae, Dylan Richardson, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland, Marshall Sykes.
Backs: Fergus Burke, Matt Currie, Jamie Dobie, Darcy Graham, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Blair Kinghorn, Stafford McDowall, Finn Russell (cc), Kyle Rowe, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White.
Wales
Forwards: Keiron Assiratti, James Botham, Elliot Dee, Taulupe Faletau, Dafydd Jenkins, WillGriff John, Evan Lloyd, Kemsley Mathias, Jac Morgan, Sam Parry, Tommy Reffell, Will Rowlands, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Freddie Thomas, Henry Thomas, Christ Tshiunza, Aaron Wainwright, Teddy Williams.
Backs: Josh Adams, Ellis Bevan, Dan Edwards, Josh Hathaway, Eddie James, Ellis Mee, Blair Murray, Joe Roberts, Tom Rogers, Ben Thomas, Nick Tompkins, Owen Watkin, Liam Williams, Rhodri Williams, Tomos Williams.
Last year’s results and standings
Ireland won the Six Nations in 2024, securing their second successive championship. England finished third, but prevented Ireland from winning the grand slam with an unexpected victory on the penultimate weekend.
