Ireland played their first Six Nations games at the Aviva Stadium, having played their first matches at the new stadium in November 2010.
For the first time in its history, the tournament opened with a Friday night fixture.[1] For the first time in a decade, all of the teams had the same head coach as in the previous year's tournament.[2]
This tournament was also notable for a major upset, with Italy beating 2010 champions France. Despite this upset, Italy still finished last, and was awarded the wooden spoon as a result. The champions were England, who won their first four matches, but were denied the Grand Slam and the Triple Crown by a defeat to Ireland.
Italy's Andrea Masi was named the Six Nations Player of the Championship, becoming the first Italian player to win the award with 30% of the voting. The runners up were Fabio Semenzato in second, Seán O'Brien in third and Toby Flood in fourth.
[3]
Final results
England won the championship after winning four out of their five matches, losing against Ireland. Due to France defeating Wales in the final match of the tournament, England ended the tournament at the top of the table.[4] Had England beaten Ireland it would have led to their first Grand Slam since 2003.[4] Italy lost their final match against Scotland to claim the wooden spoon for the ninth time since entering the competition in 2000.[5]
^Replaced regular captain Lewis Moody, who was initially ruled out of at least the first two rounds of the competition with a knee injury.[6] He returned to play for his club team, Bath, on 20 February, but his injury reportedly returned during a training session for England's third match against France, ultimately ruling him out of the rest of the Championship.[7] Tindall suffered an ankle injury during England's fourth match against Scotland that ruled him out of their final match against Ireland; Nick Easter was named captain for that match in Tindall's absence.[8][9][10]
Chris Ashton's four-try performance marked a number of milestones:
He became the first player of any nation to score four tries in a Six Nations match since the competition expanded in 2000.
He also became the first England player to have scored four tries in a Six Nations, Five Nations, or Home Nations match since Ronald Poulton-Palmer scored four against France in 1914.
His six tries in the tournament equalled the single-season record in the Six Nations era, shared by Will Greenwood of England in 2001 and Shane Williams of Wales in 2008.
Brian O'Driscoll's try gave him 24 career tries in the Championship, equalling the all-time record of Ian Smith of Scotland, amassed in the Five Nations and Home Nations between 1924 and 1933.[23]
Ronan O'Gara became the fifth player in rugby history with 1,000 career Test points, reaching the mark with his conversion of O'Driscoll's try.[23]
The officials were heavily criticised for allowing the Wales try as it was scored following a quick throw-in after the ball went out on the full, with a different ball. A quick throw-in must be taken with the same ball without it being touched after going over the touchline.[24]
In the United Kingdom, BBC channels televised the matches live. The matches were also televised by France 2 in France, RTÉ Two in Ireland,[30]Sky Sport in Italy and ESPN in Australia and New Zealand.[31]
In Wales, Welsh language channel S4C televised Wales matches live.[32]
In the United States and the Caribbean, Premium Sports[33] televised the matches live while BBC America also televised some matches in the United States.[34]
