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Rest weeks have long been built into the tournament structure
Six Nations fallow weeks have been built into championship format for years. For some they’re a chance for some much needed rest and recuperation, while others see them as a stick in the spokes of the tournament’s momentum.
Here’s how the Six Nations fallow weeks work. After kicking off over the first two weekends in February, the Six Nations 2025 takes the following weekend (15-16 February) off. The action then resumes on Saturday 22 February, before taking another breather over the following weekend. Everything is then set up for a blockbuster finale, as the closing two rounds of Six Nations fixtures are played over consecutive weekends, 8-9 March and 15 March.
What do Six Nations rest weeks involve?
With a break in Test action, domestic leagues can resume for the weekend. This usually means a full slate of games in both the United Rugby Championship and France’s Top 14. With the Gallagher Premiership now featuring just 10 teams, the tournament can afford to go into hiatus for the duration of the Six Nations, but the Premiership Rugby Cup continues in the meantime.
Some Six Nations squad players may return to their clubs over the Six Nations fallow week, especially if their national coach decides they need extra game time. But it’s also known for teams to train in international camp for three days, and then let players go home and spend time with their families and friends. Then preparation can resume in earnest for the next Six Nations game.
Have there always been Six Nations fallow weeks?
The current 2-1-2 format, with two fallow (or rest) weeks built into the schedule, has been the norm in the championship since 2003. This structure allows the tournament to be done and dusted in the space of a media-friendly six weeks.
When Italy joined the Six Nations in 2000, however, there were fallow weeks between every round of fixtures, meaning that the competition ran from 5 February all the way through to the start of April.
This was also the norm in the old Five Nations, when there was traditionally a fortnight between fixtures. With the odd number meaning that one team had to sit out every round, teams regularly went four weeks between Five Nations games.
Related: The history of the Six Nations
Should they axe every Six Nations fallow week?
Discussions on axing one or two of the fallow weeks in the Six Nations have come up before, particularly with the desire for more a unified global rugby calendar always high on the sport’s agenda. It’s already a challenge to fit rugby union fixtures into the time available, so a couple of extra free weekends would surely be welcomed by competition organisers.
But with player welfare an increasing priority, player representatives have pushed back on this. It is very physically demanding to play this level of Test rugby over and over, and few would want to give up the extra preparation time, especially if they are playing Sunday one week and Saturday the next.
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