Scotland No. 8 Jack Dempsey has bizarrely claimed that the Six Nations is a tougher tournament to win than the Rugby World Cup.
The loose forward was speaking to Scotland Rugby News about the country’s struggles in the tournament they last won in 1999, when it was still known as the Five Nations.
According to Dempsey, what makes the tournament so tough to win is that if you lose a single match, winning the overall competition becomes a bigger challenge. Compared to the World Cup, he said, a single loss doesn’t have to be the end of the world, as he referenced the Springboks losing pool games and going on to win the 2019 and 2023 World Cups.
“I’ve said this before… I think it’s honestly harder to win a Six Nations than a World Cup because South Africa won the last two World Cups, right? How many games did they lose? They lost one in each,” said Dempsey, who also played 14 Tests for Australia between 2017 and 2019.
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“To win the Six Nations, you have to win it all, you know. If not, you have to rely on bonus points and all this other stuff. And it’s not a knockout.
“And it’s home and away and alternates every year. World Cup, random, unless you’re the host, you’re in a random place where it’s a neutral field pretty much, unless you’re coming up against the host.
“You can lose a game in the pool, which could help you in the quarters depending on who you pull. It’s f****** tough, mate. It is. But to answer your question, you got to be healthy, you got to be fit and you’ve got to be ready to go and you’ll play five in a row and you’ve got to be up for it every time. That’s it. That’s the answer.”
Dempsey’s comments have stirred debate among rugby fans, especially given the prestige and global scale of the World Cup compared to the regional intensity of the Six Nations. For Scotland, who continue to chase their first title in over two decades, his words may serve as a rallying cry ahead of the next campaign.
Sport
