For 10 years now six European national rugby union teams have been competing in the Rugby Six Nations Cup Event. Before 2000 the event was known as the Five Nations Championship as only five teams were competing in it. The event occurs every year and today the teams involved are England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy.

All countries involved are required to field a team that comprises 15 players during the duration of the game that is made up of two segments lasting 40 minutes each. But if at any time the referee feels a player is not acting within the spirit of the game or has played a dangerous move then they have the option to remove them from the pitch for a period of 10 minutes to a place known as the sin bin.

This year's event will commence on Saturday 6th February and over the following 9 weeks each team will play all the others involved with the final games taking place on Saturday March 20th. The team that scores the most points during the Rugby Six Nations Event is then declared the winner. For every game a team wins they will be awarded 2 points, however if a game is drawn then the teams will be awarded a point each. If a team loses then of course no points will be awarded to them.

During the event every team will play the others competing to win the cup either at the ground (pitch) that is their home one or away at the others. All of the home games for England take place at Twickenham. As for the other teams, Ireland's home ground is Croke Park, Dublin, Scotland's is Murrayfield, Edinburgh, and Wales is the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. Then for France their home ground is the Stade de France, Paris and for Italy it is the Stadio Flaminio in Rome.

Along with teams wishing to win the Six Nations Cup there are a number of other trophies that teams will be competing against each other for. These include the Triple Crown that is contested for between England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Then there is the Calcutta Cup that England and Scotland will try to win. Then we have the Centenary Quaich, a trophy that is important to be won by Ireland or Scotland. Also since 1988 England and Ireland have competed against each other during this event to win the Millennium Trophy. Now France and Italy also have a trophy that they compete against each other for and have done so since 2007 theirs is known as the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy.

All the teams competing are looking to be presented with the Six Nations Cup but for England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland they are also looking to be awarded the Triple Crown. This is a hotly contested competition between these four countries for many years now but a Triple Crown Trophy was first presented in 2006 and at this time it went to Ireland. As for now it is Ireland who currently holds this trophy.

Should any of the teams competing in the Rugby Six Nations Cup Event be able to beat all the others they will be awarded the "Grand Slam" title. This is another title that all teams contest hotly and has been played for even when it was the Five Nations Championship. Of all the teams that participate only 3 have been able to win this title in consecutive years. This being England, France and Wales. Also when it comes to who has won this title the most at present England lead with winning it twelve times, followed by Wales who have won the "Grand Slam" title ten times, As for the other teams France have won it eight times, Scotland have won the title three times and Ireland just twice.