Six Nations sin bin: The worst offending players and teams 2006-2025

Have you ever wondered which team has received the most yellow and red cards in the last 20 years of the Six Nations? Which player has faced the “sin bin” music the most? Or which has been the worst season, in terms of discipline?

Look no further, because the answers lie here, in the story of the 219 cards shown between 2006 and 2025.

The naughtiest of players
Who comes to mind as the most sin-binned player of the last 20 years of the Six Nations? Mohamed Haouas? Gethin Jenkins? Peter O’Mahony?

Well, yes, those three amassed a total of 11 cards (seven yellows, three reds and one double yellow), but there is another who collected cards on five different occasions: Finn Russell.

Yes, that Finn Russell. The Scottish fly-half was first sent to the sin bin in 2015, when he tackled Dan Biggar in the air, with Scotland going on to lose 26-23. One year later came another yellow card, but he then managed to keep his name off the naughty boys list for four years, until 2021.

In what was one of Scotland’s best Six Nations campaigns, Russell was sent to the sin bin in the opening round. However, the fly-half returned in time to help his side earn a memorable 11-06 win at Twickenham.

But Russell was not finished there. In the closing game of that year’s Six Nations, he was sent to the showers early for the first time in his Test match career. In the 70th minute, the fly-half led with a forearm into the neck of Brice Dulin, leaving Wayne Barnes with little choice but to eject him from the game.

Comically, France were unable to turn things around, conceding a 27-23 loss that ultimately cost them the Six Nations title.

In 2022, Russell was sent to the sin bin again, reaching the five-card threshold, a record he shares with Liam Williams. The Welshman was also sin-binned five times, but all were yellow cards, which makes Russell the winner of the naughtiest player of the Six Nations.

Here is the top 10 of the worst offenders of the last 20 years:

Finn Russell (4 yellows / 1 red)

Liam Williams (5 yellows)

Mohamed Haouas (2 yellows / 2 reds)

Peter O’Mahony (3 yellows / 1 red)

Conor Murray (4 yellows)

Paul Willemse (1 yellow / 1 red / 1 double yellow)

Marco Riccioni (3 yellows)

Gethin Jenkins (3 yellows)

John Barclay (3 yellows)

Martin Castrogiovanni (3 yellows)

Italy loves their yellows and reds
The most carded team since 2006 is Italy. The Azzurri have collected more wooden spoons than any other side and just as many yellow cards, totalling 44 over the last 19 years.

While fans may remember some of the shenanigans pulled by Martin Castrogiovanni, Italy’s worst sin-bin record came in 2021. Seven Italian players were ‘invited’ to cool off for 10 minutes, forcing Franco Smith to operate with 14 men for 20 minutes across three consecutive games.

Second are Scotland with 42 yellow cards and four reds. Finn Russell accounts for five of those, representing 10 per cent, a striking figure given his position and role in the Scottish setup.

Wales complete the podium with 35 yellow cards and are the only team not to have received a red card across the last 19 editions of the Six Nations.

France and England sit fourth and fifth with 33 (27 yellows, six reds) and 31 (28 yellows, three reds) respectively, while Ireland are the saints of the bunch with just 27 (24 yellows, three reds).

Notably, France are the only team to have completed three consecutive seasons without a card being shown on two separate occasions, from 2007-2009 and again from 2011-2013.

2021, annus sin binis
Twenty-one cards in a single Six Nations. Twenty-one. Sixteen yellows and five reds, an average of 1.4 cards per game, to showcase what was a brutal championship that ended with Wales lifting the title.

Breaking it down, Italy had by far their worst Six Nations from a disciplinary standpoint, with seven players serving 10-minute spells in the bin.

It was also the year Scotland set two unwanted records, the first and only time since 2006 that two players were sent off in the same campaign, as Finn Russell and Zander Fagerson were dismissed against France and Wales, respectively.

However, while Italy, France and Scotland were the three most carded teams, Ireland recorded the worst red-card ratio. Andy Farrell’s side received only three cards in total, but two were red, through Peter O’Mahony and Bundee Aki.

As for the most undisciplined match of the 2021 tournament, France v Wales takes the cake, with four players carded. Mohamed Haouas, Liam Williams and Taulupe Faletau were sin-binned, while Paul Willemse was sent off.

For those wondering which seasons follow 2021 as the most ill-disciplined, the answer is 2024 and 2025, with 19 and 16 card,s respectively.

Can cards tell a story of law and game progression?
Do cards, sin bins and disciplinary processes tell a story about the game’s evolution in player safety? Possibly, but not entirely.

Grouping each Six Nations into five-year blocks gives a clearer picture of the trend:

From 2006 to 2010, 36 cards were shown, all yellow.

From 2011 to 2015, that number rose to 61. In 2014, three red cards were issued, with Rabah Slimani becoming the first player in almost a decade to be sent off in the Six Nations.

From 2016 to 2020, there was a decrease to 43 cards, with red cards dropping from three to two.

From 2021 to 2025, there was a sharp rise to 79 cards, an average of one per game. Fifteen red cards were issued, five of them to French players.

With the tackling and ball-carrying laws becoming stricter, there has been an overall increase, even if we had a brief period when fewer cards were given, which may have been due to players adapting to the new demands of the game.

However, there were other areas of the game that match officials and TMOs began to pay more attention to, particularly at the breakdown and in the ruck challenge.

So, yes, cards can reveal the game’s progression and where it’s headed, a positive sign that there’s an overall concern to make rugby safer at all levels.