The first round of the 2022 Six Nations will kick off at 2:15 PM GMT on February 5 with a match between Ireland and Wales. That’s not all, though: England and Scotland will face off at 4:45 PM, followed by France and Italy at 3 PM the next day. We’ll explain how to live stream every single Six Nations game for free online, even if you’re abroad.
This article will only recommend official Six Nations broadcasters. Although unlicensed streams are a sad inevitability for major sporting events, there’s really no reason to use them. First, these streams are often laggy, on a delay, and low-resolution. Further, with copyright holders monitoring forums and actively taking down unofficial streams, there’s no guarantee you’ll even get to see which team wins. You can watch the Six Nations for free in many countries anyway, meaning there’s no need for unlicensed streams.
The Six Nations will only be shown on region-locked platforms. If you’re traveling abroad and there’s no official broadcaster where you are, you’ll need a VPN to access your home services.Â
How to watch the Six Nations live online (for free)
With a VPN, accessing regionally restricted content is very simple. Follow the steps below to stream the Six Nations from wherever you are in the world.
Here’s how to live stream the Six Nations online free, from anywhere:
- Begin by signing up for a suitable VPN service. We recommend NordVPN but Surfshark and ExpressVPN are two great alternatives.
- Download your VPN’s app, making sure to get the right version for your device.
- Decide which service you’d like to use and connect to a VPN server in the appropriate country. For instance, you’d need a British server to unblock the BBC iPlayer or an Italian one for DMAX.
- Try visiting your chosen website. It should load almost immediately but you might have to clear your browser’s cookies and cache, then refresh the page.
As this event will be broadcast live, we strongly suggest running through the steps above well in advance of the first match starting. This way, if anything doesn’t work as expected, you’ll still have time to get help from your VPN’s customer support staff and might not have to miss any of the game.
Where to watch the Six Nations 2022 for free on UK TV
British rugby fans can watch every single Six Nations fixture for free. Home matches for France, Scotland, and Wales will be shown on BBC One and can also be streamed live on BBC iPlayer. Games in which Italy, Ireland, or England plays at home will instead be available on ITV Hub. Additionally, S4C will show every Wales match live with Welsh commentary.
These platforms have particularly stubborn geo-restriction measures. If you’re having difficulty unblocking them, you might have better luck on TVPlayer, a site that hosts fully licensed live streams for both BBC One and ITV. (That said, all our recommended VPNs will work directly on the primary streaming sites for iPlayer and ITV Hub.)
Note that as you’ll be watching live content as it airs on TV, UK legislation requires you to have a TV License. However, none of these services actually verifies that you have one, so this is all too easy to accidentally overlook.
BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, S4C, and TVPlayer are all geo-locked and only available in the UK. However, if you’re abroad, you can still access them with a British VPN server. You can watch the Six Nations completely risk-free as NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can simply cancel after the Six Nations if you’re unhappy with the service or no longer need a VPN.
Where else can I watch the Six Nations online?
The Six Nations is Britain’s highest-profile rugby tournament, so it should come as no surprise that it’ll be broadcast in more than 20 countries worldwide. Take a look below to find official sources wherever you live:
USA
The Six Nations will be broadcast exclusively on NBC’s new streaming service, Peacock. However, while you can watch some content for free, you’ll need a premium pass ($4.99 USD per month) to stream this tournament. On the plus side, users can watch live or on-demand, and every single game will be available.
The service mentioned above are only accessible in the US. If you’d like to access them abroad, you’ll have to connect to one of your VPN’s American servers first.
France
Streaming the Six Nations is incredibly simple if you’re in France: every single game is available live on France 2. This service is free and there’s no need to create an account. You will, however, have to either be in France or using a French VPN server in order to watch.
There’s also the option to switch audio tracks, with French, audio-descriptive, or original audio options available for certain shows. It’s as yet unclear whether French viewers will be able to watch the Six Nations with English commentary on France 2.
Italy
In Italy, DMAX will show every match live, free of charge, and in high-definition. You can watch one hour of content without signing up, but afterward, you’ll have to create a DPlay account. This doesn’t cost anything, though, and simply requires you to verify your email address.
As with the services above, DMAX is region-locked. To watch, you have to either be in Italy or connected to an Italian VPN server.
Ireland
Every 2022 Six Nations fixture will be broadcast for free on Virgin Media One (previously called TV3). There’s no need to create an account, although you will have to connect to one of your VPN’s Irish servers if you’re outside of Ireland. Additionally, the site requires you to turn off your ad-blocker before streaming.
Other locations
Can’t find your country above? There’s no need to panic: the Six Nations will be shown in numerous other countries too. Wikipedia actually has a list of official international broadcasters, and even explains which matches each will show.
How does the Six Nations tournament work?
Essentially, the Six Nations is pretty straightforward: each team plays all the others in the tournament once. Winning a game gets you four points (or five points if you score four or more tries), and tying gets each team two points (with a further point available for squads with four or more tries). Usually, when a team loses, it gets no points but can be awarded one bonus point if it loses by seven points or less and another if it scores more than three tries.
When a country’s squad goes undefeated, it’s called Grand Slam, and they’re given three extra points. As you can imagine, this is a fairly rare occurrence, with just 39 instances since 1908.
Should the Six Nations end in a tie, the team with more points scored and fewer points conceded will win. In the highly unlikely event of a further tie, the total number of tries will be considered, and if this is also exactly the same, both teams will share the number one spot.
Which country is expected to win?
France is the favorite at the moment, having slaughtered New Zealand in the run-up to the tournament. However, the English team, which has reached the final two nine times in the last ten tournaments, will leave everything on the field and could pose a real threat. Elsewhere, Scotland and Wales have longer odds, and Italy is ranked least likely to win. Anything can happen, so you’ll have to watch the games yourself to see who wins.
When is the next Six Nations tournament?
On February 6, 2023, France and Wales will play in the opening game of the 2023 Six Nations Championship. England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales will compete against one another in the annual international men’s rugby union event. This tournament features a round-robin format known as the Guinness Six Nations Championship. The event’s winner is determined by the total number of points accumulated by each team during their single matchups with each other.
