The weekend of the 13th and 14th of August saw the welcome return of the Home Nations Championship, which this year was held at Marr Rugby Club, Troon, Scotland.

The first Home Nations was held at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, in 2000; it was won by England, who have retained the title ever since.

Teams from England, Jersey, Scotland and Wales descended on Troon, with England hoping to defend their title again successfully and every other country hoping that this year would be their year and they would be taking home the silverware.

Day one was a close-fought battle; at the lunchtime break, England was in first place with Wales in second, Jersey in third and Scotland bringing up the rear in fourth. By the end of day one, there had been a few changes in the standing, with England still in first place, but now Jersey was in second, Scotland in third and Wales in fourth place.

Sunday saw a new day, and players refreshed after a night’s sleep. England continued as they had finished on Saturday, and despite losing some of their games, they were still too strong for the other three nations. The battle was now between Jersey, Scotland and Wales for second place, and the lead would change several times during the day.

The final results were announced, with England in first place with 63 wins. However, Jersey and Wales had tied for second place both on 45 wins. This meant there had to be a countback, where the SPA President announced that Jersey had finished on 45 wins and +3 points and, Wales had ended on 45 wins and -135 points, which put Jersey in second place, Scotland finished on 39 wins.

		63 Wins	Points Difference 217	To download the published results click on the links below. Saturday Results by Team Sunday Results by Team Final Results
		45 Wins	Points Difference 3
		45 Wins	Points Difference -135
		39 Wins	Points Difference -85

This was a great achievement for Wales as the last couple of times the Home Nations Championship was held, they were fourth in Jersey 2018 and third in Cardiff 2019, well behind Jersey on wins.

The Home Nations Championship is held over two days and involves a marathon schedule playing 192 games between triple teams from each Nation. Each team played six games each day.

Special congratulations must go to Wales 1 – Jean-Yves Robic (SWBRC PS), Len Field (SWBRC PS) and Sean Smith (Monkstone PC)  for winning 9 out of their 12 games.

Gareth Spencer
Director of Public Relations.