From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2006 RBS 6 Nations Championship was the seventh series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy. 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 last Six Nations to be held before the redevelopment of Ireland Stadium of Lansdowne Road. Ireland played their 2007, 2008 and 2009 Six Nations home fixtures at Croke Park, also in Dublin.

Unlike most rugby union competitions, the Six Nations has not adopted a bonus point system. Match winners receive two points, with one for a draw and none for a loss. The first tiebreaker is point differential.

In this year, France won the competition on points difference over Ireland. Ireland received the consolation prize of the Triple Crown Trophy, presented for the first time that year, by winning their matches against the other Home Nations: 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

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach
England	Twickenham	London	Andy Robinson
France	Stade de France	Paris	Bernard Laporte
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Eddie O'Sullivan
Italy	Stadio Flaminio	Rome	Pierre Berbizier
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Frank Hadden
Wales	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Mike Ruddock Scott Johnson

Squads

Final table

Place	Nation	Games				Points				Table points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Tries
1	France	5	4	0	1	148	85	+63	18	8
2	Ireland	5	4	0	1	131	97	+34	12	8
3	Scotland	5	3	0	2	78	81	−3	5	6
4	England	5	2	0	3	120	106	+14	12	4
5	Wales	5	1	1	3	80	135	−55	9	3
6	Italy	5	0	1	4	72	125	−53	5	1

Results

Week 1

4 February 2006 13:30 GMT	Ireland	26 – 16	Italy	Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 49,500 Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
	Tries: Flannery 26' c Bowe 48' c Con: O'Gara (2) Pen: O'Gara (4) 40+2', 60', 70', 80+4'		Try: Mi. Bergamasco 30' c Con: Pez Pen: Pez (2) 13', 64' Griffen 45'

4 February 2006 15:30 GMT	England	47 – 13	Wales	Twickenham, London Attendance: 81,000 Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
	Tries: Cueto 15' c Moody 31' m Tindall 65' m Dallaglio 75' c Dawson 78' c Voyce 80+7' c Con: Hodgson (2) Goode (2) Pen: Hodgson (3) 28', 45', 55'		Try: M. Williams 35' c Con: S. Jones Pen: S. Jones (2) 21', 53'

5 February 2006 15:00 GMT	Scotland	20 – 16	France	Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 66,028 Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
	Tries: Lamont (2) 11' c, 46' c Con: Paterson (2) Pen: Paterson (2) 22', 33'		Tries: Bonnaire 50' m Bruno 80+2' m Pen: Élissalde (2) 40+2', 62'

Week 2

11 February 2006 13:30 GMT	France	43 – 31	Ireland	Stade de France, Paris Attendance: 80,000 Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
	Tries: Rougerie 3' m Magne 8' c Marty (2) 18' c, 58' c Heymans (2) 37' c, 45' c Con: Élissalde (5) Pen: Élissalde 32'		Tries: O'Gara 59' c D'Arcy 63' c O'Callaghan 71' c Trimble 74' c Con: O'Gara (4) Pen: O'Gara 30'

11 February 2006 16:00 GMT	Italy	16 – 31	England	Stadio Flaminio, Rome Attendance: 24,973 Referee: Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
	Try: Mi. Bergamasco 80+4' c Con: Pez Pen: Pez 37' Drop: Pez (2) 40+1', 42'		Tries: Tindall 30' c Hodgson 57' c Cueto 70' c Simpson-Daniel 80+9' c Con: Hodgson (4) Pen: Hodgson 51'

12 February 2006 15:00 GMT	Wales	28 – 18	Scotland	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 73,340 Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
	Tries: Penalty try 7' c G. Thomas (2) 35' c, 64' c Sidoli 54' c Con: S. Jones (4)		Tries: Southwell 80+4' m Paterson 80+7' c Con: Paterson Pen: Paterson (2) 19', 39'

Week 3

25 February 2006 14:00 GMT	France	37 – 12	Italy	Stade de France, Paris Attendance: 73,978 Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England)
	Tries: Lièvremont 31' m Nyanga 59' m de Villiers 72' c Rougerie 80+6' c Michalak 80+10' c Con: Yachvili (3) Pen: Élissalde 5' Yachvili 47'		Pen: Pez (3) 10', 20', 28' Drop: Pez 38'

25 February 2006 17:30 GMT	Scotland	18 – 12	England	Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 67,500 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
	Pen: Paterson (5) 3', 43', 48', 75', 80+1' Drop: Parks 58'		Pen: Hodgson (4) 8', 41', 64', 78'

26 February 2006 15:00 GMT	Ireland	31 – 5	Wales	Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 80,000 Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
	Tries: Wallace 29' m Horgan 44' c Stringer 80+12' c Con: O'Gara (2) Pen: O'Gara (4) 18', 40+1', 48', 59'		Try: M. Jones 9' m

Week 4

11 March 2006 13:30 GMT	Wales	18 – 18	Italy	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 74,000 Referee: Joël Jutge (France)
	Tries: M. Jones 12' m S. Jones 29' c Con: S. Jones Pen: S. Jones (2) 4', 63'		Tries: Galon 17' m Canavosio 40+6' c Con: Pez Pen: Pez (2) 40', 47'

11 March 2006 15:30 GMT	Ireland	15 – 9	Scotland	Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
	Pen: O'Gara (5) 3', 10', 24', 38', 58'		Pen: Paterson (3) 11', 17', 28'

12 March 2006 15:00 GMT	France	31 – 6	England	Stade de France, Paris Attendance: 74,000 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
	Tries: Fritz 1' c Traille 70' m Dominici 80+3' c Con: Yachvili (2) Pen: Yachvili (4) 7', 11', 34', 77'		Pen: Hodgson 40+4' Goode 43'

Week 5

18 March 2006 13:30 GMT	Italy	10 – 13	Scotland	Stadio Flaminio, Rome Attendance: 24,062 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
	Try: Mi. Bergamasco 7' c Con: Pez Pen: Pez 58'		Try: Paterson 13' c Con: Paterson Pen: Paterson 78' Drop: Ross 40'

18 March 2006 15:30 GMT	Wales	16 – 21	France	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 74,500 Referee: Chris White (England)
	Try: Luscombe 34' c Con: S. Jones Pen: S. Jones (2) 5', 27' Henson 60'		Tries: Szarzewski 50' m Fritz 80' c Con: Élissalde Pen: Yachvili (2) 12', 40+2' Élissalde 80+6'

18 March 2006 17:30 GMT	England	24 – 28	Ireland	Twickenham, London Attendance: 81,986 Referee: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
	Tries: Noon 2' m Borthwick 52' c Con: Goode Pen: Goode (4) 38', 44', 69', 75'		Tries: Horgan (2) 8' m, 79' c Leamy 59' c Con: O'Gara (2) Pen: O'Gara (3) 17', 37', 43'

Scorers

Leading try scorers Pos Name Tries Pld Team 1 Mirco Bergamasco 3 5  Italy Shane Horgan 3 5 Ireland 3 Mark Cueto 2 4  England Florian Fritz 2 4  France Cédric Heymans 2 4  France Mark Jones 2 4  Wales Sean Lamont 2 5  Scotland David Marty 2 4  France Aurélien Rougerie 2 4  France Gareth Thomas 2 2  Wales Mike Tindall 2 4  England Chris Paterson 2 5  Scotland

Leading point scorers (Top 3) Pos Name Points Pld Team 1 Ronan O'Gara 72 5 Ireland 2 Chris Paterson 57 5  Scotland 3 Charlie Hodgson 44 4  England Ramiro Pez 44 5  Italy

External links

• The Official Six Nations Site