The 2026 Six Nations got underway last night with 2025 champions France delivering a heavy defeat to last year’s Triple Crown winners Ireland.

Rugby union may not rival its far more widely followed cousin of football (or soccer as it will be referred to a lot in June-July this year) in terms of viewership or betting volume, but it still has a loyal following among a core group of punters.

It can also be a tricky one from a trading perspective, with the injury-prone game often meaning regular team changes affecting the outcome of tournaments each year.

To gain some insights into how operators are tackling this year’s Six Nations, no pun intended with the use of the word ‘tackling’, SBC News’ Bookies Corner spoke with Ireland’s AK Bets and the UK’s Betfair…

How significant a factor is patriotic punting during tournaments like the Six Nations? Is it a pretty big engagement driver?

Sam Rosbottom, Betfair Spokesperson: The Six Nations is the standout betting event of the rugby calendar each year, outside of a World Cup year. Last year’s tournament saw a similar level of engagement to the Ryder Cup.

Are you expecting bet builders to have a big impact on trading in this year’s Six Nations?

Joe Lee, Head of Strategy and Performance, AK Bets: We’ll be very hands-on and heavy with AK’s Bet Boosts for all Six Nations matches. Our Bet Boosts prove very popular across all Sports as they allow customers to Earn Free Bets.

We also allow customers to request their own Boosts via Trader Chat and that option remains very popular due to the speed we can activate what customers want.

How big a betting event is the Six Nations in comparison to other major tournaments, in your experience?

Betfair: While in previous years, the competitiveness of the teams would make a more appealing betting opportunity, this time around we’re seeing lots of interest in England and some of our other outright markets offerings.

The Irish press seem to believe this will be Andy Farrell’s most difficult Six Nations campaign. Do punters appear to agree?

AK Bets: Absolutely. Six months ago Ireland were a 4/1 shot for the Six Nations with AK Bets and can now be backed at an industry best priced 10/1 with us.

Away fixtures vs France and England with a squad not looking anywhere near as bombproof as they did a few years ago means punters are looking elsewhere and we don’t blame them.

The quality of national rugby teams changes much more rapidly than in football. Does this affect pricing and trading to a greater extent than in other sports?

AK Bets: It does. The schedule of an event like the Six Nations is a big factor and significant injuries can play a huge part too in addition to the basics like pure form. Ireland have more than doubled in price in six months. No team will get close to doubling in price between now and the start of the Football World Cup as a comparison.

England go into the tournament off the back of an 11-match winning streak, but haven’t won the Six Nations since 2020. You mentioned this earlier, but are punters backing them to continue their great form, or are other nations attracting the money?

Betfair: More than half of bets taken on our winner market are for Steve Borthwick’s side (5/2), while 18% are on Scotland (12/1). Unsurprisingly, patriotic punting is very real when it comes to these tournaments, England to win the Grand Slam and England to win the competition are the most popular selections with our punters from England.

Top try scorers Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (12/5) and Henry Arundell (10/3) are also popular selections with customers going into this year’s Six Nations.

As well as our extensive offering of Sportsbook outright markets, we’ve also got a number of OddsBoosts and OddsOnThat selections, with punters enjoying odds of 16/1 on an exact finishing order of first – England, second – France, third – Ireland, fourth – Scotland, fifth – Italy, sixth – Wales.