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Looking forward to 2019 ...
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The 2018 Six Nations Championship was the 19th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The tournament continued to be sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, although this edition had title sponsorship from RBS-owned subsidiary NatWest, meaning the tournament was known as the NatWest 6 Nations.
The championship was contested by France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales and defending champions England. Including the competition's previous iterations as the Home Nations Championship and Five Nations Championship, it was the 124th edition of the tournament.
As in the 2017 tournament, the tournament continued to use the bonus point system common to most other professional rugby union tournaments. As well as the standard four points for a win and two for a draw, a team scoring four tries in a match received an additional league table point, as did a team losing by seven or fewer points. Additionally, to ensure that a team winning all of its five matches (a Grand Slam) would also win the Championship, three bonus points would be awarded for this achievement.
The Championship was won by Ireland on 10 March 2018, with their four wins (three with try bonus points) from the first four matches sufficient to place them out of reach of the other participants ahead of the final round. This was the third tournament running where the championship and Wooden Spoon had been decided by the end of round four. After a 24–15 victory in Twickenham, Ireland secured a Grand Slam, their third ever, alongside a Triple Crown.
The championship was contested by France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales and defending champions England. Including the competition's previous iterations as the Home Nations Championship and Five Nations Championship, it was the 124th edition of the tournament.
As in the 2017 tournament, the tournament continued to use the bonus point system common to most other professional rugby union tournaments. As well as the standard four points for a win and two for a draw, a team scoring four tries in a match received an additional league table point, as did a team losing by seven or fewer points. Additionally, to ensure that a team winning all of its five matches (a Grand Slam) would also win the Championship, three bonus points would be awarded for this achievement.
The Championship was won by Ireland on 10 March 2018, with their four wins (three with try bonus points) from the first four matches sufficient to place them out of reach of the other participants ahead of the final round. This was the third tournament running where the championship and Wooden Spoon had been decided by the end of round four. After a 24–15 victory in Twickenham, Ireland secured a Grand Slam, their third ever, alongside a Triple Crown.
