Before I conjure up some more literary magic, I would like to take a fraction of your time to acknowledge some deaths.
1.) Over 30,000 Iranian civilians and anti-government demonstrators have been killed by the Iranian Republic Security Forces since December 2025, in what can only be described as massacres.
2.) Legendary comic book artist, Sal Buscema, died on 23rd January 2026, aged 89. He worked for multiple companies across his long career, having created fantastic characters like Rebecca and Brian Banner, Lady Deathstrike, Grandmaster, The Invaders, Hyperion, Helmut Zemo, U-Foes, Time Variance Authority, Rom the Space Knight, and the Wrecking Crew, among many others.
3.) The recent storm that hit the North Island of New Zealand has resulted in the deaths of nine people, through flash flooding and two landslides.
4.) The beloved actress and comedian Catherine O’Hara passed away on January 30, 2026. Among her many famous roles, my personal favourite was Cookie Fleck in Best In Show. O’Hara had the knack of making any character, especially the unlikable ones, very likeable.
I don’t have any inspiring things to say, other than my family and I are very sorry to hear of their deaths, and to send our condolences and deepest sympathies to their loved ones.
In New Zealand, both national and regional governments have numerous questions that require answers from the media, the public, and grieving families.
My thanks and apologies for bringing this up.
Moving on, I wrote another non-award-winning blog post last week regarding rugby, American football’s older and hotter sibling. I mentioned that I was going to discuss the greatest rugby tournament outside of the World Cup: The Six Nations Championship. I aim to provide my followers with things they didn’t request, except for the three followers this is written for. They know who they are.
So, like Fozzie and Kermit, we need to keep movin’ right along into The Six Nations Rugby Championship: Part 1. For all my non-rugby supporters, I’m sorry/not sorry. Prepare thyself!
Every year, a fantastic rugby tournament begins that runs from February to April. It’s called the Six Nations Championship, or the Guinness Six Nations Championship, and it comes in three different flavours, Men’s, Women’s and Under-20s.
The Six Nations, as the tournament is commonly known, involves, get ready for it, six nations that are England, Wales, Scotland, France, Italy, and Ireland1. It’s one of the world’s oldest international tournaments.
Once again, I need to interject myself into something that I am actually writing. Since I’m an All Blacks supporter, it may have crossed your wonderful mind as to why I’m writing about the Six Nations. That is another superb question from you, you’re getting so good at this! I’ll do my best to give an over-complicated answer; nothing but the best on Some Geek Told Me.
The All Blacks compete in an annual tournament with three other countries (The Rugby Championship), but before that, it was with only two other countries (The Tri-Nations), which first started in 1996. I love watching and supporting the Rugby Championship, but it pales in comparison to the Six Nations.
For me, the Six Nations is the greatest rugby tournament outside of a World Cup, and this is coming from a New Zealander! As a kid, I was enthralled by learning about the tournament, which was called the Five Nations. Obviously, watching delayed coverage, or at the very least, highlights of the games from the other side of the planet, gave me a taste of how other countries played and managed rugby.
It was always interesting to see rugby from a different perspective, which included the size of the stadiums, the singing, respecting the kicker, the age and tradition of the tournament, as well as the rivalries. I soon discovered my love of the All Blacks also transferred into being curious about what our opponents were doing.
As time marched on, my fascination with the tournament became more defined, because as an All Blacks and Black Ferns supporter, following the Six Nations was logical; if your rivals smashed each other up in an annual competition, wouldn’t it be prudent to gauge how they are performing and to see what they’re up to?
Even now, as a fully-grown man-child, watching the Six Nations makes me ask two questions: Who do I want to win? or Who do I want to lose? It also poses more questions if one particular team is performing well: Could the All Blacks beat them in their current form? but also, If the Black Ferns played them next week, who would win? I love the Six Nations.
I’ve finished my interjection, so we’ll return to the spot where we left off. Thanks.
The tournament has a long, rich and proud history, so I’ll do my best to explain it properly. When discussing the Men’s tournament, it first began in 1883, when it was known as the Home Nations Championship2; which included England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. A few years later, an argument about whether a try should have been awarded resulted in the nations establishing the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby.
From what I understand, England was not happy that Wales, Scotland, and Ireland had formed a new club, and they refused to join. This hilarious incident meant that England was excluded from the tournament from 1888 to 1889, which in turn meant the tournament did not take place. However, by 1890, everything was worked out, and the tournament had restarted.
The format for the Hone Nations continued until 1910, when France was allowed to join the tournament. As you can guess, with an extra nation in the mix, management decided to change the name of the competition to the Five Nations Championship, because, you know, five nations were playing.
The First and Second World Wars meant that fielding international-level rugby players was a little difficult, along with the country being at war, so from 1915-1919 and 1940-1946, the tournament was not played. It’s worth noting that in 1932, France was banned from the competition because of rumours and allegations of various misconduct3 and they were only allowed to rejoin in 1939, but the Second World War prevented them from physically returning until 1947.
From 1947, the Five Nations Championship marched on until 1999, because Italy was now asking to join the tournament. They were accepted, so in 2000, the Five Nations Championship was renamed again, thus becoming the Six Nations Championship, with the addition of Italy. France is the defending champion.
The Women’s tournament followed the same trajectory as the Men’s, but the time period is smaller. The tournament started in 1996, which was named the Women’s Home Nations Championship, which included exactly the teams as you would imagine: England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
In its format, the tournament lasted three years, until in 1999, you guessed it, France was added to the tournament, changing the name to the Women’s Five Nations Championship. And because history likes to repeat things, this version of the competition lasted only three years, before Italy was introduced into the tournament in 2002, turning the Women’s Five Nations Championship into the Women’s Six Nations Championship. Bet you all of Trump’s orange makeup that you didn’t see that one coming. England won the tournament in 2025.
As for the Under-20s tournament, they started in 2004, but it was called the Six Nations Under 21s Championship, and this lasted until 2008, when they changed the age restriction, which allowed another tournament to have yet another name change. So, the Six Nations Under 21s Championship became the Six Nations Under 20s Championship. Nothing to see here, move along, move along. However, like the Men’s competition, France is the current holder of the title.
In the tournament, each team plays five games, alternating between home and away matches. The following year, the home advantage is reversed for each matchup. For example, the Men’s game between England and Scotland in 2025 took place in England, but in 2026, the England vs. Scotland game will be held in Scotland.
Just because I can, I’m going to list the stadiums that are used in the competition4:
England: Twickenham, London, seats 82,000
Wales: Principality Stadium, Cardiff seats 73,930
Scotland: Murrayfield, Edinburgh, seats 67,140
Ireland: Aviva Stadium, Dublin, seats 51,700
France: Stade de France, Paris, seats 81,330
Italy: Stadio Olimpico, Rome, seats 72,690
The points system for the Six Nations is standard, but with a few quirks:
- A win gives a team 4 points. (Yay!)
- A draw gives a team 2 points. (Oh, stink!)
- A loss gives a team 0 points. (Oh, the shame!)
There are also bonus points to be awarded, which come in handy if teams have the same win/loss records.
- Scoring four or more tries in a match, gives a team 1 extra point. (Yay again!)
- Losing by 7 points or fewer, gives a team 1 extra point. (Sweet!)
- If a team wins all of their games, which is called the Grand Slam, they are automatically given 3 extra points.
At the end of the fifth round, the team with the highest total on the points table wins the championship.
Many trophies are competed for during the different tournaments, which, ironically, is exactly what we will be discussing next week with The Six Nations Rugby Championship: Part 2. Cool bananas!
In my humble opinion, the Six Nations Championship is arguably one of the greatest annual sporting events on the planet, and if you ever get the chance to watch a game, do yourself a favour and do it.
Well, that’s it for another week. Do you follow the Six Nations? What’s your favourite moment? Who will win in 2026? As always, please let me know.
Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, remember where you put your keys, and I’ll see you next week for the second and final blog post about the Six Nations Rugby Championship. The excitement is building!
1 When discussing Ireland, I am not referring to the Republic of Ireland, but the actual island of Ireland, which consists of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. At the international level, rugby is one of the few sports that represents all of Ireland, unlike football, which has Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland teams. This is reinforced with the cross-border flag for the Irish Rugby Football Union, which incorporates both countries, the Republic of Ireland (controlled by the Republic of Ireland) and Northern Ireland (controlled by the United Kingdom).
2 When discussing the Home Nations in rugby, it is in reference to England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, collectively known as the Home Nations.
3 France was accused of many things, but the main offence was fielding professional players, when at the time, rugby was an amateur sport. Rugby finally went professional in 1995.
4 France also has a second stadium that they sometimes use for the tournament. It’s the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, in Northern France. Its capacity is 50,180.
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