Here’s a clear, fan-friendly “Quick Scoop” on how points work in the Six Nations.

How do points work in Six Nations?

In the Six Nations, teams earn table points for results and bonus points for attacking play or close defeats. The team with the most points after five rounds wins the Championship.

Basic match points

Each game gives both teams some combination of these:

  • Win = 4 points.
  • Draw = 2 points.
  • Loss = 0 points (before any bonuses).

So if you just look at the result and ignore bonuses:

  • A team going 5 wins from 5 would get 20 points from wins alone.

Bonus points: the extra twist

Bonus points are there to reward attacking rugby and tight contests.

There are three key types:

  1. Try bonus point
    • Score 4 or more tries in a match = +1 point.
 * You can get this whether you win or lose.
  1. Losing bonus point
    • Lose by 7 points or fewer = +1 point.
  1. Combination for a losing team
    • If a team scores 4+ tries and loses by 7 or fewer, they get 2 bonus points (one of each).

Example:
A team loses 33–31 but scores 4 tries. They earn 0 for the loss, +1 for 4+ tries, +1 for losing by ≤7, so 2 points total from a defeat.

Grand Slam bonus (win all five)

If a team wins all five matches, they achieve a Grand Slam. To make sure they can’t be overtaken by someone with lots of bonus points, they get a special boost:

  • Grand Slam = +3 extra points on top of their normal win points.

So a perfect tournament looks like:

  • 5 wins = 5 × 4 = 20 points.
  • If they also picked up a try bonus in every game, that’s 5 more, and then the 3-point Grand Slam bonus , for a theoretical 28 points.

Maximum and minimum from a single game

To make it feel concrete, here’s what a single match can produce:

  • Winning team:
    • Minimum: 4 points (win, no bonuses).
* Maximum: 5 points (win + 4+ tries).
  • Losing team:
    • Minimum: 0 points (loss, no bonuses).
* Maximum: 2 points (4+ tries and lose by ≤7).

A match can therefore “yield” up to 7 table points in total across both teams.

How the Six Nations winner is decided

The league table is ordered by total points first.

If teams are tied on points, typical tie‑breakers are:

  1. Points difference (points scored minus points conceded).
  1. Tries scored.
  1. Head‑to‑head result between the tied teams.
  1. Shared title if they are somehow still level on all of the above.

So bonus points and big winning margins can be crucial, especially in tight years.

Six Nations in 2020s context (trending angle)

The bonus point system was brought in to encourage more tries and attacking rugby , and analyses of tournaments since its introduction often look at whether it has actually increased try totals. Fans and pundits regularly talk about “chasing the bonus point” late in games, which shapes tactics—teams might kick for the corner instead of going for easy three points if they are hunting that extra table point.

You’ll also often see end‑of‑tournament storylines where a team “needs a win and a try bonus” or “must win by X points” in the final round to overtake a rival on points difference, which keeps the last weekend especially dramatic.

Mini FAQ-style recap

  • How do points work in Six Nations?
    Win 4, draw 2, loss 0, with bonus points for 4+ tries and losing by ≤7.
  • What is the Grand Slam bonus?
    Win all 5 games and get +3 extra points.
  • How is the champion decided?
    Highest total points, then tie‑breakers like points difference and tries scored.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.