How France, Ireland or England can clinch the Six Nations title

France’s brilliant 42-27 win over Ireland in Dublin on Saturday means the 2025 Six Nations title is now theirs to lose.

However, with three teams still in with a chance of lifting the trophy going into the final weekend, the competition’s organisers couldn’t have asked for a better finale.

Away wins for Ireland and England, over Italy and Wales, respectively, in the first two fixtures in the final round would put real pressure on Les Bleus, whose destiny would still be in their own hands as Championship leaders.

France approach ‘Super Saturday’, on March 15th, a point better off than England and two points ahead of Ireland, and knowing that to all intents and purposes, a win over Scotland in the final match of the Championship in Paris on Saturday evening will see them crowned champions for the first time since 2022.

A bonus-point win against Scotland would, 100 per cent, see them get the job done as none of their rivals would be able to catch them regardless of the outcome of their matches, while if France win but fail to score four tries, England would have had to beat Wales in Cardiff by a massive score and score four tries or more in the preceding match to bring about the unlikeliest of finishes. England maintained their challenge until the final weekend with a 47-24 victory over Italy at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.

After the first four rounds, France have a points difference of +106, England are +20 and Ireland are +13. Points difference will determine the placings of teams if they finish level on competition points, which is obviously of huge advantage to Fabien Galthié’s men. If the teams can’t be separated by match points or points difference, they will be placed according to tries scored. Again, France are well ahead on this count, having scored double the number of tries Ireland have managed (26 to 13), and 11 more than England (15).

Six Nations

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

France

4

3

1

0

16

2

England

4

3

1

0

15

3

Ireland

4

3

1

0

14

4

Scotland

4

2

2

0

11

5

Italy

4

1

3

0

4

6

Wales

4

0

4

0

3

Mathematically, Scotland are still in the race but they’d have to beat France by more than 50 points and hope that England and Ireland finish with a whimper. Even then, a draw would be good enough for England to finish ahead of Scotland.

Ireland kick off the final round at 14:15pm with a trip to Italy, and a win in Rome would restore them to the top of the table. Assuming Ireland get a bonus point win, that would leave them three points ahead of France and four in front of England, who kick off in Cardiff at 16:45, with the defending champions needing a favour from Wales and Scotland.

Ireland will be out of contention for an unprecedented Six Nations three-peat if they lose or draw and don’t get score four tries in the process, while England can still win the title if they get at least two bonus points from their game against Wales, or draw, as long as France come out of their game against Scotland, kick off 20:00, with nothing to show for their efforts.

Kick-off times are all GMT