Six Nations Rugby - in its entirety - will be on the BBC until the end of the decade, following an unprecedented new deal announced by BBC Sport and the Six Nations Committee. The new deal extends the BBC’s current contract, as exclusive broadcaster of the Six Nations, for a further four years until 2010. The deal covers TV, radio and online services.

Following a 30% rise in average audiences last year, this year’s Championship has seen further audience growth with average UK audiences per match reaching 4.1m, up from 2.8m two years ago when the competition was scattered between three broadcasters. The Scotland v England game was watched by more than 8 million viewers - the biggest audience for the Championship in recent times.

The BBC and the Six Nations have also further committed to developing rugby at grassroots level. The BBC and the Home Nations are taking this year’s ‘RBS Six Nations - Give It A Go’ campaign to get more rugby played in 100 new schools in the UK, as a template for further work together.