The 2025 Six Nations kicked off at the weekend with France hosting Wales, Scotland taking on Italy and England visiting Dublin to face the reigning champions Ireland. We dive into the most illuminating stats of the round.
For the fifth time, the Men’s Six Nations kicked off on a Friday. The four previous editions to start under the Friday night lights were hosted by either France or Wales, so it was fitting that the 2025 tournament began with a clash between the two.
Back at the Stade de France after taking their home games on tour last year, Les Bleus gave the Saint-Denis crowd plenty to cheer about, keeping Wales scoreless for the first time in Six Nations history.
Scotland ran out comfortable winners – eventually – against Italy. Gregor Townsend’s side raced into an early lead but the Azzurri fought back to level things up 10 minutes into the second half. But Scotland kicked on in the final quarter, sealing a bonus-point victory to start their campaign in style.
Ireland, who are without head coach Andy Farrell due to his Lions commitments, hosted England in the final match of the weekend. Steve Borthwick’s side started well, going into half-time with a deserved five-point lead thanks to Cadan Murley’s debut try. However, they were blown away by a 20-minute blitz in the second half, as Ireland ran in three tries and a penalty to secure a bonus-point win and keep their hopes of a third straight Six Nations title alive.
Our rugby experts at OptaJonny break down the key stats from the weekend before analysing the standout players of the round according to the Opta Index.
France 43-0 Wales
This was France’s second biggest win against Wales after a 51-0 victory during the 1998 Five Nations; Les Bleus have now won each of their last seven Test matches against Wales, their second longest such run, after a 12-game stretch from 1983 to 1993. France became the first team to prevent Wales from scoring a single point in a match since Australia in June 2007 (31-0) and the first team to do so in the Five/Six Nations since France themselves in April 1998 (51-0). Wales have now lost their last 13 Tests in a row, extending their record losing run; their 43-point defeat to France was their second-heaviest defeat in the Six Nations after a 54-10 loss to Ireland in 2002. Antoine Dupont became the first player to provide a hat-trick of try assists in two separate Men’s Six Nations matches (also 4 vs Italy in 2021) and has now assisted 20 overall in the Championship. Only Conor Murray (29) has more try assists (Finn Russell also on 20). Thomas Ramos scored eight points against Wales, bringing his total to 387 in Test rugby, moving past Christophe Lamaison (380) as France’s second top points scorer – only Frédéric Michalak has more for Les Bleus (436).Scotland 31-19 Italy
Scotland have won each of their last five opening-round fixtures in the Six Nations, having recorded a first-round win in just three of their previous 21 campaigns (L18). Scotland have won 17 of their 19 home matches against Italy in all competitions, including the last seven in a row, their longest winning run on home soil against the Azzurri, overtaking a run of six from 1996-2005. Huw Jones scored a hat-trick against Italy, taking his try tally to 15 in the Six Nations, with only five players scoring more in the Championship since Italy joined in 2000: Brian O’Driscoll (26), George North (23), Shane Williams (22), Stuart Hogg (16) and Ben Cohen (16). Sebastian Negri completed 26 tackles for Italy, with only Michele Lamaro, who made 27 against Scotland in last year’s Six Nations, making more for the Azzurri in a single game in the Championship (Maxime Mbanda, also 26 vs Wales in 2017). Darcy Graham beat 11 defenders against Italy. Only four players have beaten more in a Men’s Six Nations game, with Duhan van der Merwe the only Scotland player to better that in a Championship match (13 vs Italy in 2021, also Thomas Castaignede – 15 vs Italy in 2000, Ange Capuozzo – 14 vs England in 2023 and Jack Nowell 12 vs Scotland in 2019).Ireland 27-22 England
Ireland have now won 19 of their 26 Round 1 fixtures in the Men’s Six Nations. Their 73% win rate in the opening round is the highest of any team in the Championship. Ireland have won their last four home games against England. Only once before have they won more consecutive home games against the English – a six-game run between 1897 and 1907 (also W4 between 2005 and 2011) Ireland beat England despite trailing at half-time. It was the first time they’d come from behind at the break to beat England since the 1983 Five Nations (10-12 at HT, 25-15 at FT). Dan Sheehan’s bonus-point clinching try was his ninth in the Six Nations, moving him level with Imanol Harinordoquy, Jamie Heaslip and Charles Ollivon as the joint top try-scoring forward since Italy joined the Championship in 2000. James Lowe assisted three tries in this match and has now been directly involved in seven tries in six games against England, his most against any nation. Six of those try involvements came in the Six Nations – only Scotland’s Huw Jones has more against England in the Championship (7 – 5 tries, 2 assists).Top Five Players from 2025 Six Nations Round 1
James Lowe was the top player in Round 1 of this year’s Men’s Six Nations, according to the Opta Index, which assigns players a score out of 10 based on their actions – both positive and negative – in a game.
Lowe assisted three tries and has been a real thorn in England’s side in the Six Nations, with only Huw Jones – who also featured in the top five players – registering more try involvements against the English in the Championship.
Back rowers Gregory Alldritt and Jac Morgan were the top ranking forwards, with Antoine Dupont rounding off the top five despite coming off less than 10 minutes into the second half when he had already racked up a score of 7.8 out of 10.
Agree with our top five? Why not compare all the players across this year’s Championship using our Six Nations Stats Hub.
Check out our other Rugby Union content on Opta Analyst. You can also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook
The Best Six Nations Stats From Round 1 Opta Analyst.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The Best Six Nations Stats From Round 1 )
Also on site :
- Child Damages $56 Million Rothko Painting in Rotterdam Museum
- Videos capture fighting during Israeli raid in occupied West Bank
- Here’s how to watch LlamaCon, Meta’s first AI developer event