Rugby Union
This month sees the launch of the 2021 Six Nations tournament. This is a competition featuring six different countries, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy who all play matches against one another to find out who will become the Six Nations Champions.
Usually, there is an U20's, Women's and Men's competition but due to Covid, the U20 and Women's competitions have been postponed until later in the year. However, the Men's competition is still taking place because the Senior Men's teams all have professional status and can operate in a secure bubble.
The full match schedule can be found here:
England and Scotland play each other on 6th February at 4.45pm in a match called the Calcutta Cup. This will be an extremely important match as the first time the two sides played against one another was 150 years ago in the first-ever International Rugby Test Match, at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh in 1871.
150th Anniversary of English Rugby in 2021
“On 26 January 1871 at the Pall Mall Restaurant on London’s Regent Street, a meeting took place between representatives from 21 clubs, many of which are still in existence today. The representatives were young men, the average age being 23, many were club captains and together they created the world’s first governing body for rugby football.
At the meeting, 20 players were also selected to represent England in the first-ever international contest on 27 March 1871 following a challenge of an international fixture issued by Scotland.”
HTTPS://WWW.ENGLANDRUGBY.COM/NEWS/ARTICLE/RFU-TO-MARK-150TH-ANNIVERSARY
The 150th Anniversary of English Rugby will be celebrated throughout 2021 and a special kit created by Umbro and inspired by the kit worn on that first match will be worn this year.
A limited-edition range of heritage shirts has been produced for fans to purchase and are available now through www.englandrugbystore.com
HAVE FUN WITH RUGBY AT HOME
The RFU has kindly given you all a bumper edition of information on how you can have fun and get involved in rugby this month.
#GetYourShirtOn – Keeping children active and enjoying rugby from home
As it's so important for players to stay active, even whilst at home, England Rugby is running online training sessions for age-grade players each Sunday until the latest lockdown restrictions are lifted.
Get Your Shirt On is a series of online training sessions led by former England players and aimed at the 6-18-year-olds.
All the RFU asks is that you wear your club or school rugby shirts when you take part.
Playlist of all the videos that will be promoted each Sunday here.
School of Ruck
Still home-schooling?
Why not take a look at the School of Ruck? There's some great information, challenges, reading and spelling tasks for you to enjoy for 5-11 year olds. Just click here:
You can also access some great rugby activities, including a 2021 Six Nations wall chart, here: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/twinkl-partnerships/england-rugby-partnerships
Youth Sport Trust’s After School Sports Club
Have you heard of the After School Sports Club? On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5 p.m different activities are run for children. https://www.youthsporttrust.org/AfterSchoolSportClub
Rugby World Cup winner Danielle Waterman appeared last month featuring fun rugby activities.
https://www.englandrugby.com/news/article/nolli-kicks-off-yst-online-after-school-sport-club
For more information about rugby in schools and the resources available, please visit this page.
With thanks to the RFU for this article and the use of videos and to Six Nations Rugby Ltd for the fixture information. Also, thanks to https://www.twinkl.co.uk/ for the rugby shirt template download.
