BBC Announces Six Nations 2012 Coverage Plans

The BBC will bring all the action from the RBS 6 Nations, offering comprehensive multiplatform coverage of the entire Championship.

Live coverage starts on Saturday 4 February, with France v Italy (ko1430) and Scotland v England (ko 1700), both on BBC One and BBC One HD.

Wales rugby legend Shane Williams joins the BBC team this year and will be offering expert insight and analysis on three of Wales’ matches. He adds to the already expert analyst line-up of Jonathan Davies, Jeremy Guscott, Andy Nicol, Keith Wood and Lawrence Dallaglio.

John Inverdale presents the BBC’s TV coverage, along with Gabby Logan and Jason Mohammed. Commentary comes from Eddie Butler, Andrew Cotter and Alastair Eykyn, with Jonathan Davies, Phillip Matthews, Brian Moore and Andy Nicol as co-commentators. The pitchside reporting team includes Jill Douglas, Sonja McLaughlan and Graham Thomas.

Every game of the tournament will be shown live on BBC One and BBC One HD apart from France v Ireland (11 February) and Scotland v France (26 February), which will be broadcast on BBC Two and BBC HD. All matches will also be live on Radio 5 live or 5 live sports extra, streamed live on BBC Sport website and will be available on BBC iPlayer for up to a week after the live fixture.

The full story of the women’s Six Nations will also be covered with news and highlights online, including live coverage on the red button of England v Wales on 25 February.

BBC Six Nations Rugby Union editor, Carl Hicks says: “We’re proud to once again bring all the action from the oldest and most-famous international rugby union tournament in the world and we’re delighted to have signed a new rights agreement to broadcast the event through to 2017. Last year over 32 million people tuned in to the tournament, which shows how much audiences across the UK love the Six Nations as it continues to excite and entertain.”

BBC Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra will bring extensive coverage of the entire Six Nations, including live commentary and the latest news and analysis. Ian Robertson leads the 5 live commentary team alongside Alastair Eykyn, Conor McNamara, Jonny Saunders and Iain Carter, and expert analysis is provided by Matt Dawson, Gavin Hastings, Denis Hickie and Robert Jones.

On Thursday 2 February Matt Dawson will present a Six Nations 5 live Rugby Special live from Edinburgh previewing this year’s tournament. He will also host Six Nations 5 live Rugby during the tournament, where he will be joined by guests for the latest news and analysis and to preview forthcoming matches.

The BBC Sport website and BBC Red Button offer a host of content including all matches streamed live, with alternative audio options available. There will also be live post match forums following these matches:

Scotland v England: 4 February (1900-1930)

Ireland v Wales: 5 February (1700-1730)

Wales v Scotland: 12 February (1700-1730)

England v Wales: 25 February (1800-1815)

France v England:11 March (1700-1730)

England v Ireland: 17 March (1900-1330)

A 45 mins highlights programme (also shown on BBC Two, Sunday nights) will be available post-match, replayed on the red button and also available on the BBC iPlayer. Plus match edits will be available after each match red button and online.

Content also includes archive from past Six Nations, blogs, a preview forum with John Inverdale, and all the news, pre-match interviews, build up and post-match reaction.