Rugby

Trophy Winners #3 – Rugby Union (Men) 1984 to 2026

October 5, 2026 By Nigel Marriott

Rugby is under way again in the Northern hemisphere and I am hoping for more trophies for my team Bath. I had expected to be updating my downloadable spreadsheet of trophy winners with the winner of the Rugby Championship. What I had not realised is this is now played every two years. This is to accommodate a biennial series between South Africa and New Zealand which concluded 3-1 in favour of South Africa. 2026 will conclude with the inaugural winner of the new Nations Championship which will also take place every 2 years but I’ve decided to stick to my schedule of updating this article in October of every year.

6 Nations History #4 – The men’s story so far in 2024

March 17, 2024 By Nigel Marriott

The 2024 Six Nations (Men’s) ended with Ireland just missing out on a 2nd successive Grand Slam due to a last minute drop goal. Italy recorded their best ever 6 Nations and left Wales with the wooden spoon for the 2nd time ever. France, England and Scotland recorded plusses and minuses during their campaigns and all 3 nations will be seeking to go one better in 2025.

6 Nations History #3 – The men’s story so far in 2023

March 24, 2023 By Nigel Marriott

The 2023 Six Nations (Men’s) ended with Ireland beating England to win their 3rd 6 Nations Grand Slam in the last 15 years. France ran them close and Scotland recorded their 1st top 3 placing since 2018. England & Wales disappointed their fans whilst Italy have some grounds for optimism despite their wooden spoon.

6 Nations History #2 – The men’s story so far in 2022

March 26, 2022 By Nigel Marriott

The 2022 Six Nations (Men’s) ended with France beating England to win their 1st Grand Slam and 6 Nations title since 2010. Ireland ran them close scoring 24 tries in all (joint 2nd highest on record) and Italy won their 1st game in 36 matches in dramatic fashion in Cardiff. England, Wales and Scotland all disappointed their fans and have questions to answer.

6 Nations History #1 – The men’s story so far in 2021

March 27, 2021 By Nigel Marriott

The 2021 Six Nations (Men’s) ended with Wales winning the title after Scotland beat France in Paris to snuff out France’s attempt to win the title for the first time since 2010. Wales let a Grand Slam slip after conceding a try in injury time and as an England fan who was there at Wembley in 1999 I know exactly how the Welsh feel!

Rugby World Cup #4 – Who will win in 2019? – Final

October 30, 2019 By Nigel Marriott

England will take on South Africa in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final this weekend and I am predicting a win for England by 1 to 6 points. In other words, it will be close and exciting!

Rugby World Cup #3 – Who will win in 2019? – Model Evaluation

October 30, 2019 By Nigel Marriott

After 43 matches with 37 correctly predicted, the stage is set for an epic final between England & South Africa to settle the 2019 Rugby World Cup (Men’s). Ahead of making a prediction for that match, I have examined my model in depth and in this post I explore whether or not the model needs to be adjusted.

Rugby World Cup #2 – Who will win in 2019? – Knockout Round

October 18, 2019 By Nigel Marriott

It’s the quarter finals tomorrow and it’s time for me to predict the outcomes using World Rugby’s rankings. Although I got 33 out of 37 matches right in the pool stages, the 4 errors are enough to change my prediction of who will win.

Rugby World Cup #1 – Who will win in 2019? – Pool Stage

September 19, 2019 By Nigel Marriott

Augustin Pichot, vice-president of World Rugby, may not like its ranking system but ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup (Men’s), I have been able to use rankings to correctly predict 80% of international matches since 2017. For the world cup that starts this week, I used a dynamic ranking model to predict all matches and it shows that 4 countries cannot be separated for the trophy so we are in for some very exciting matches!

6 Nations #12 – Who will win in 2018? – Week 5

March 17, 2018 By Nigel Marriott

We now know the answer to who will win the 2018 6 Nations Championship. Ireland won the title with a match to spare after England failure against France resulted in my second forecasting error of the championship. There is still much to play for though in the last week with the main question being whether England do to Ireland what Ireland did to England last year and stop them from winning a Grand Slam. Whilst I am cheering on England, it is St. Patricks Day and I do have some Irish blood in me so part of me does wish Ireland well.