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The Six Nations is a major international rugby union tournament. The below Six Nations rugby betting guide will provide you with everything you need to know about the annual international men's competition and the best odds.
The Six Nations is an annual competition in international rugby union that involves England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is organised by the different unions of these six nations.
This competition dates back to 1883 when it was known as the Home Nations Championship, and it involved just England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In 1910, France was added to the tournament to create the Five Nations Championship, while in 2000, Italy joined to bring the number of teams up to six.
Each year, the six nations play each other once, with the home and away fixtures alternating from one year to another. Four points are handed out for a win and a bonus point is added if the winning team scores four tries or more. The winner of the competition is the team who tops the standings at the end of the 15 matches.
England is the most successful team in the history of the Six Nations in all three formats of the competition. They have been successful 29 times, with six of those victories coming in the Six Nations era. Wales is the second most successful team in history. They have triumphed 28 times, with six of their trophies coming since the tournament expanded to six teams. France is next best with 18 tournament wins, while Ireland and Scotland have triumphed 14 times each.
Before the Six Nations begins, it is important to analyse each of the 35-man squads submitted by each country. This will help you to assess which team has the best credentials to win the tournament that year. With five games across the campaign, having depth in a squad is equally as important as a strong starting XV.
Another factor to consider in our Six Nations betting guide is recent results over the last 12 months. These are important as they will give you an indication of the form of each of the six teams.
The teams which head into the Six Nations in good form will be full of confidence.
Although the matches at the Six Nations don’t change from one year to another, the team with home advantage in those games does. If one of the nations is at home against their biggest rival for the trophy, they have been handed a favourable set of fixtures. This is likely to be reflected in the Six Nations rugby betting market each year.
The 2023 Six Nations Championship begins on the 4th of February with the opening round of fixtures. France is the defending champions after going unbeaten in their campaign in 2022. Ireland is bidding to win the competition for the first time since 2018 and they are considered the biggest challengers to last year’s winners.
Ireland begins their Six Nations 2023 campaign away to Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. It is a tough start for Andy Farrell’s side. They then have home fixtures against England and France, while they need to travel to Italy and Scotland this year. 2022 was a good year for Ireland, with the highlight being their series success against New Zealand. They also had Autumn international wins over Australia, Fiji and South Africa. Those successes helped them climb to the top spot in the world rankings. Josh van der Flier will be one of the players Ireland will be confident can shine during the 2023 Six Nations campaign. He was named the World Player of the Year in 2022 for his performances across the year.
Farrell has named an experienced Six Nations squad, with centre Jamie Osborne the only player who has not picked up a cap yet for his country.
France was dominant in the 2022 Six Nations Championship. They defeated Ireland 30-24 at the Stade de France in round two of fixtures, while in the final round, they got the better of England 25-14 in Paris to complete the Grand Slam.
Les Bleus went through their Autumn campaign unbeaten, with wins coming against Australia, South Africa and Japan. The defending champions begin their campaign in Rome when they take on Italy.
England opted to sack head coach Eddie Jones back in December. They have appointed Steve Borthwick as his replacement. His opening game in the job comes against Scotland in the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham in round one.
Borthwick has opted to leave out Billy Vunipola, Jonny May and Jack Nowell from his Six Nations squad. He has recalled Dan Cole who has not featured for England since the 2019 World Cup. The RFU will be hoping the former Leicester head coach can help their team improve their results in 2023.
Wales have changed their captain heading into the Six Nations this year as Ken Owens takes over from Justin Tipuric in the role of Warren Gatland’s team. Their new-look squad also features four uncapped players in Rhys Davies, Mason Grady, Keiran Williams and Teddy Williams.
Gatland is now in his second spell as the Wales head coach. He led the country between 2007 and 2019, winning four Six Nations Championships, in what is one of the best spells the Wales national team have had. The New Zealand-born coach will be hoping for something similar on his return to the position. Scotland had wins over Argentina and Fiji last Autumn. They also pushed Australia and New Zealand close in what was a strong couple of months for the team in October and November.
Gregor Townsend will be hoping his team can build upon their form at the back end of 2022. Ruaridh McConnochie has played two games for England, but he has switched allegiances in international rugby to Scotland. The Bath wing is one of four uncapped players who have been named in Townsend’s squad. Italy has won just 13 games at the Six Nations since they joined the competition in 2000. They have finished bottom of the standings in each of the last seven tournaments, including 2022 where they did have a victory over Wales at the Principality Stadium.
One of Italy’s most memorable wins in its history came over Australia last November. They also hammered Samoa 49-17 during that Autumn spell of fixtures. Their first goal will be to avoid finishing in last place in 2023 at the Six Nations.
Ireland is the favourite here at LeoVegas to win the 2023 Six Nations Championship trophy. Townsend's team top the world rankings going into this year's tournament, so a lot will be expected of them against their five rivals.
Scotland is second best when checking the LeoVegas Six Nations rugby betting odds, while England can be backed to win their first Six Nations trophy since 2020. Wales and Italy are the underdogs so far.
If you are wondering how to bet on Six Nations matches here at LeoVegas, it is very easy. The first step is to ensure you have an account. You can sign up on your home page by filling in a quick registration form. Once you have an active account, sign into our site with your username and password.
All of our rugby union markets, including our Six Nations rugby betting, can be found on our Rugby Union page. You can find this section in the A-Z list of sports. Once you are on our Six Nations page, you will be able to access the outright market for the tournament and the matches for the upcoming round of fixtures.
You can add your selection to your bet slip by clicking on its betting odds. If you are betting on individual matches at the Six Nations 2023 tournament, you can combine selections to create an accumulator. When you add your stake to your bet slip, we will calculate your potential return for you, so you know exactly how much you will win if your bet is successful.
Once you are happy with what is on your bet slip, click ‘place bet’ and we will send a confirmation message once the bet has been successfully placed.