The 2020 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 21st Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales, and the 126th edition of the competition (including all the tournament's previous versions as the Home Nations Championship and Five Nations Championship). The tournament began on 1 February 2020, and was scheduled to conclude on 14 March; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy's penultimate match against Ireland and all three of the final weekend's matches were postponed with the intention of being rescheduled. It was the first time any match had been postponed since 2012, and the first time more than one match had been delayed since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001. In July 2020, a revised fixture schedule was announced, with the last four games being played in October.
England became the first team to win the title despite losing their first game since Wales did so in 2013. It was England's 39th title overall (including shared titles), drawing them level with the record Wales set the previous year, and extended their record of 29 outright titles.
Participants
Squads
Table
Table ranking rules
Four points are awarded for a win. Two points are awarded for a draw. A bonus point is awarded to a team that scores four or more tries in a match or loses a match by seven points or fewer. If a team scores four tries in a match and loses by seven points or fewer, they are awarded both bonus points. Three bonus points are awarded to a team that wins all five of their matches (a Grand Slam). This ensures that a Grand Slam winning team will always top the table with a minimum of 23 points. A team that loses a single match could only achieve a maximum of 22 points – they could win four matches with four try bonus points and lose the remaining match but still win two bonus points while losing that game. Tiebreakers: If two or more teams are tied on table points, the team with the better match points difference (points scored less points conceded) is ranked higher. If the above tiebreaker fails to separate tied teams, the team that scores the higher number of total tries in its matches is ranked higher. If two or more teams remain tied for first place at the end of the championship after applying the above tiebreakers, the title will be shared between them.
Fixtures
The fixtures were announced on 20 March 2019. For the first time since 2013, no matches were scheduled on a Friday night. The final match of the tournament also returned to peak time for the first time since 2016.
Round 1
Notes: Johnny McNicholl and Nick Tompkins (both Wales) and Niccolò Cannone and Danilo Fischetti (both Italy) made their international debuts. Josh Adams became the second Welsh player to score a hat-trick in the Six Nations after George North scored three times against Italy in 2015. Italy were held to zero points for the first time since losing 29–0 to Scotland in 2017.
Notes: Caelan Doris and Rónan Kelleher (both Ireland), and Nick Haining (Scotland) made their international debuts. Simon Berghan (Scotland) was originally named as a replacement, but he was replaced on the day of the game by WP Nel. Ireland retained the Centenary Quaich.
Notes: Anthony Bouthier, Mohamed Haouas, Boris Palu, Arthur Vincent and Cameron Woki (all France) and George Furbank and Will Stuart (both England) made their international debuts. Damian Penaud (France) was originally named in the starting line-up, but was ruled out with a calf injury. Vincent Rattez replaced him, while Arthur Vincent took Rattez's place on the bench. France won their opening Six Nations match for the first time since beating Italy 23–21 in 2016. England lost their opening Six Nations match for the first time since 2014, which was also a loss to France in Paris. England failed to score points in the first half for the first time in a Six Nations match since their 35–3 victory over Ireland in 1988.
Round 2
Notes: Max Deegan (Ireland) made his international debut. Owen Williams was named on the bench for Wales but was replaced by Jarrod Evans due to a calf injury.
Notes: Ben Earl (England) made his international debut. England reclaimed the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 2017.
Notes: Alessandro Zanni (Italy) was originally named in the starting line-up, but suffered an injury in the pre-match warm-up and replaced by Dean Budd. Budd's place on the bench was taken by Jimmy Tuivaiti. France retained the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy.