2007 Six Nations Championship

The 2007 RBS 6 Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship and was won by nrut|France, on points difference. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. 15 matches were played over five weekends from 3 February to 17 March.

In the build-up to the competition, nrut|Ireland were being tipped as favourites for the Grand Slam, having played well during the Autumn Tests. However, despite having started strongly with a win against nrut|Wales, they lost to France 20-17 in an historic [This was the first rugby match ever at Croke Park. Before 2005, the constitution of the Gaelic Athletic Association, which owns Croke Park, prohibited "foreign games" from being played on the ground. In practice, this ban was applied only to football and the rugby codes, as the stadium had been used for matches in International Rules football (a hybrid between Australian Rules and Gaelic football) and American football.] encounter at Croke Park. In turn, Ireland went on to beat nrut|England, who subsequently won against France.

Round 3 of the competition saw nrut|Italy win their first ever away match in the Six Nations. nrut|Scotland conceded three tries (all converted) in the first six minutes, and Italy went on to secure an historic 37-17 victory. In the same round, England's defeat by Ireland at Croke Park 43-13 marked their worst result ever in the history of the tournament, both in number of points conceded and in points difference (30 points).

In round 4, Italy achieved a second victory in the same tournament for the first time, when they defeated Wales 23-20 in Rome in a match that ended in controversy. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/welsh/6432323.stm |title=Italy v Wales |publisher=BBC |date=March 10, 2007] Trailing by three points, Wales had the chance to equalise in the closing moments of the game when they were awarded a kickable penalty near the Italian 22-metre line. But, having been informed by the referee that 10 seconds remained, they chose to kick for touch, believing that there was time for an attacking line-out and possible try-scoring opportunity, only for the referee to blow his whistle and end the game before the line-out could form. The Welsh players were incensed and the referee later apologised for the misunderstanding that had arisen. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/6439245.stm | title=Referee sorry for Rome confusion | publisher=BBC | date=2007-03-11]

France won the tournament when an injury-time try at the Stade de France gave them the 27-point victory over Scotland that they needed to secure the title.

Participants

The teams involved were:

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.rbs6nations.com/index_6nations.htm The official RBS Six Nations Site]