Justin Marshall has risked the wrath of the All Blacks fans by claiming that only the Rugby World Cup is ahead of the Six Nations in terms its standing in rugby.
While the southern hemisphere has dominated the sport, winning nine of the 10 World Cup editions, the former New Zealand scrum-half believes that their annual international tournament, the Rugby Championship, trails its northern rival.
The Six Nations is set to begin on January 31 when France host Wales as the sport’s oldest tournament gets ready for yet another fascinating edition.
Almost 150 years old
Although this version of the Championship is only in its 25th year after Italy joined at the start of the millennium, it has been going since 1883.
In contrast, the Rugby Championship only began in 1996 after the advent of professionalism. It initially featured the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks and was called the Tri Nations before Argentina was added in 2012 to create its current format.
Appearing on DSPN, host Martin Devlin put it to Marshall that the Six Nations was only second behind the World Cup in terms of importance.
“In terms of rugby tournaments around the world, the Rugby World Cup is the pinnacle, but this has got to be number two,” Devlin said.
“It’s no disrespect to the Rugby Championship but the history of it. There’s something about it; the commentary, the crowd and everything else, this rates as the second-best rugby tournament in the world doesn’t it?”
It was a view which Marshall agreed with. The 51-year-old used to watch from afar but, having spent the latter part of his playing career in Europe, featuring for Leeds Tykes, Ospreys, Montpellier and Saracens, he understands the impact it has.
The former All Black was also fortunate enough to go to a few matches during the 2024 edition, which saw Ireland retain the title.
‘Bitter pill to swallow’
“Absolutely, I do agree with you. It’s always a big old bitter pill to swallow here in the southern hemisphere because we feel that we’ve got the greatest competitions, but we don’t have the history that the Six Nations has got,” Marshall said.
“That’s just been a part of rugby for them, it’s set in stone. I was very lucky to be there last year for a couple of weekends of the Six Nations and just going along, there’s just a different vibe about it.
“You certainly do feel that form goes out of the door, it’s all about that intense rivalry. I know I’m repeating myself saying the word history but it’s the facts.”
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