If you live in the United States, it’s easier than ever to catch the action because BBC America is covering a match each week. Setanta Sports is also covering the competition in the US as the network enters its last month on the air in the United States, but BBC America is available to a lot more US households as it is not a paid subscription channel.

If you’d rather give yourself a bit more control over the tournament’s outcome, you can play it yourself with the BBC’s online Six Nations game. The game is a very simple one you can play with your Web browser, but it is surprisingly addictive. Beware–you may be surprised to find yourself spending hours enjoying the various “drills” and trying to top your score in the simulated matches.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

While you wait for the tournament to start tomorrow, here are some highlights from its last two incarnations:

2009:

2008:

A less gruesome incident in a Heineken Cup match last week, however, reminds us that the next area of “dirty” play meriting disciplinary attention may be a much less violent one.

Defending Heineken Cup champions Leinster picked up a bonus-point win over Brive Saturday by a comfortable 27-10 margin, but it wasn’t easy going all the way through. In the 37th minute, Leinster were ahead only 7-0 when center Gordon D’Arcy chipped ahead near the sideline. His kick was likely a bit too long as it was easily caught on the full for a mark by the opposition … but not before D’Arcy was floored face-first after bumping into the arm of a Brive player whie pursuing his kick.

A penalty kick was awarded to Leinster with the choice to be taken from either the spot where the kick was taken or where it landed, as is appropriate for a late tackle or charge on a kicker. The only problem was that, as a frustrated Brive captain indicated in vain, it didn’t look much like anyone actually tried to stop D’arcy. He may have touched an arm, but … well, we’ll let the words of a Setanta Sports television commentator, who was covering the match for the Irish network, speak for themselves: “They’ve been done. They’ve been conned by experienced Mr. D’Arcy there.”

Now, we can’t read D’Arcy’s mind, but discussion on a Leinster supporter forum compared him to Michael Phelps.

One might argue that a little bit of gamesmanshaip to draw a penalty is part of the sport, and that it doesn’t hurt an opposition player the way eye-gouging and other serious offenses do. On the other hand, though, one might argue that penalty “simulation” might need the type of increased attention from disciplinary bodies that it is beginning to receive in soccer/football.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t track down footage of the D’Arcy incident available online for you, but we can offer a glimpse of what rugby union could start to look like if simulated foul play isn’t dealt with proactively:

To be fair, the Leinster-Brive Match wasn’t all flops. Here are some more exciting moments from the match to restore your faith in the sport:

Unfortunately, he seems to have missed that distinction in a match earlier this month for Biarritz.  It looks like Hunt has been so busy signing contracts and hopping on flights, he may have missed a leaf from the union law book.  Either that, or perhaps match pressure got to him and he went to instincts.  In either case, Hunt himself explains it best.  But you don’t have to take his word for it.  Instead, have a look at this clip from Rugby Dump:

The Springboks’ loss to France was overshadowed by a debacle surrounding the performance of the South African national anthem. After the match, enraged Springbok representatives claimed that a poor rendition of the anthem insulted the vistors and affected their play.

Even after it was revealed that South African representatives were responsible for recommending the anthem’s performer, France found itself apologizing. The singer offered his own explanation that he had been sabotaged, though some government officials in South Africa were unconvinced and went so far as to suggest the performance was an act of treason. (Though it bears mention that this particular anthem has been butchered in the past by home crowds as well, and more deliberately.)

We’re hoping that the whole fiasco is over, but we are also reminded that the issue of suspiciously subpar anthem performances for visiting sides is not terribly uncommon. On the same weekend, for example, there were murmurs about a sound failure during the performance of New Zealand’s national anthem before the All Blacks put away Italy. Earlier this year, the United States’ loss to Canada was prefaced by an error in the American anthem’s performance.

The idea of pinning a loss or a poor performance on a sabotoged anthem might be a stretch, although it wouldn’t be the first time a hometown conspiracy was blamed for a rugby union loss. That said, one has to wonder if we might see some sort of regulatory efforts from the International Rugby Board to ensure consistent standards applied to anthems and other pre-match events.

In case you haven’t yet got to hear the anthem heard ’round the world, here is a clip of that much-maligned performance from this past weekend:

And here’s another performance of the anthem for comparison.

And just for good measure, here’s one more effort to make amends by the now-infamous singer:

There’s not much musical nous here at Armchair Playmaker, so you’ll have to draw your own conclusions.

One problem, though, is that it has still often looked like there’s no legitimate third contender in the sport to pressure those two antipodean rivals, England went ahead and beat New Zealand today. That means that the Four Nations final won’t include New Zealand, and it also means that the tournament this year was competitive enough that tournament final will include a side with a loss (England) and a side with a draw (Australia). Only struggling France failed to emerge from the tournament without a win in the end, and even France led England at half-time when the two European sides met in the tournament.

A cynic might say that the emergence of apparent competitiveness between Australia, New Zealand, and England isn’t much, and that it only means rugby league is at best a three-horse race (even if France competed gamely with them and there are other interesting international matches going on right now as well). Compared to rugby union, for example with its hundreds of member nations, three sides offering legitimate contention for the title is far from competitive. Right? Maybe. After all, how many teams have held the top spot in the International Rugby Board’s rankings over their entire history since being introduced in 2003?

Let’s see: There’s England (ranked #1 at points during 2003 and 2004), New Zealand (ranked #1 from mid-2004 to late 2007 and during parts of 2008 and 2009), and South Africa (ranked #1 during parts of 2007, 2008, and 2009, including right now). That would be … three sides?

Looking at things that way, international rugby league might be reasonably competitive after all, more so if England can rise to the occasion in next week’s Four Nations final. In any case, it looks like rugby union is watching.

Here’s a fan’s view of a few moments from England vs. New Zealand:

We can’t find much other video out there yet to post for today’s matches, but here are some earlier tournament highlights:

Australia vs. England:

New Zealand vs. France:

Australia vs. New Zealand:

England vs. France:

We were wrong. Before his AFL career begins, Hunt plans to wear a shirt with sleeves for just a bit longer by playing rugby union for six months with Biarritz in France. This means that if all goes according to plan, Hunt will have played three football codes at a top professional level in the space of a year. So far, he seems to be enjoying the journey.

Some have already been questioning the intent behind Hunt’s frequent code-hopping. We won’t speculate on what’s behind the sport-swapping, but if it’s all about the publicity, Hunt may want to get Nike on the telephone. After all, this is starting to look very familiar to some of us in the United States:

The similarities grow even eerier when we recall that Hunt is a big fan of basketball and the NFL.

Here’s hoping things go well for the multi-talented athlete. Fortunately for Karmichael Hunt, there shouldn’t be any sign of “Rabbits” Warren (see video in link) or Fuifui Moimoi (see second video in link) in Biarritz or the AFL.

That “A” is a key letter in the team name, as it indicates that the side is Ireland’s second side and not the “true” side. That might imply that their matches don’t mean as much, but you wouldn’t so from looking at the Irish side as they won the tournament final 49-22 over their English counterparts, the England Saxons.

The contest between these representative sides brings to mind the broad variety in the names so many nations provide for their second-tier side. It can cause a bit of confusion, particularly given that at the club level many sides choose to refer to their first side as an “A” side and can thus misinterpret the “A” designator’s meaning at the national level. To help out any confused parties, here’s a list of prominent national second-level sides in rugby union with a brief explanation of each:

• “A” sides: In addition to Ireland, a number of other nations refer to their second side as the “A” side. Scotland, France, Italy, Wales, and Australia have all fielded “A” sides in recent years, though the latter two of these countries are not presently fielding an “A” side.
• England Saxons: The Saxons used to be referred to as England “A” (and previously as England “B,” to add to the confusion), but have been known as the Saxons since 2006.
• Junior All Blacks: Though the term “Junior All Blacks” might suggest an age-grade side, the Junior All Blacks are New Zealand’s second-grade side and do not have any age association.
• New Zealand Māori: Not technically a second-level side, New Zealand Māori can be mentioned on this list as a similar and unique national rugby union side. Players for the side are New Zealanders with at least one-sixteenth Māori heritage. Although the Junior All Blacks are New Zealand’s actual second-level side, the New Zealand Māori outfit has sometimes functioned as something similar to a second-tier New Zealand side by occasionally participating in tournaments such as the Churchill Cup and the Pacific Nations Cup in the Junior All Blacks’ stead.
• Emerging Springboks: Like the Junior All Blacks, the Emerging Springboks might sound like an age-grade side, but they are South Africa’s second-level representatives. Given that they earned a draw against the touring all-star British and Irish Lions yesterday, some might say they’ve already emerged!
• Argentina Jaguars: Like the Saxons, the Jaguars have a dedicated nickname that differs from their first-grade counterparts the Pumas.

In rugby league, officially-named second-tier national sides are featured less frequently, though there are some interesting representative sides such as:

• New Zealand Māori, which has the same eligibility requirements as the union version of the side,
• Indigenous Dreamtime, an Australian counterpart to the NZ Māori whose players are all at least one-sixteenth aboriginal in heritage, and the
• Prime Minister’s XIII, a side picked each year by the Australian Prime Minister to play against Papua New Guinea.

Hopefully that will help you keep track of all the monikers given to these second-string sides, which provide as much excitement as their first-grade versions in tournaments all over the globe each year.

Are any “A” sides missing from the list? Post a comment if so.

New Zealand has the top side in the world, says the International Rugby Board’s rankings formula. They won the 2008 Tri-Nations series and went undefeated in ten 2008 matches against Northern Hemisphere opponents. In their first match of 2009, the favored New Zealand All Blacks were hosting a depleted French side.

But France didn’t do what they were supposed to do this past Saturday. Instead, France went ahead and beat the mighty All Blacks 27-22.

Alone, one result like this isn’t too surprising. However, looking at a few other key France-New Zealand contests in recent memory shows an interesting pattern. In 2007, New Zealand were the World Cup favorites, but lost 20-18 to France in a quarterfinal match. That’s a little bit like 1999, when New Zealand were also the favorites but lost 43-31 to France in a semifinal match.

In addition to boosting the local arrest rate, this most recent loss has even rattled some hopes in New Zealand about the 2011 World Cup despite it being a couple of years away.

France and New Zealand square off again this Saturday. Will there be more of the “French Exception?”

Here are some highlights from last week’s win:

And some from that 2007 upset:

And from 1999:

Although Williams will be busy with rugby union thoughts for a little while as he plays for the Barbarians against Australia next weekend, he has mentioned that he’d like to fight again. Although there have been some complaints that the fight was a farce, the video clips below suggest that Williams has promise if he wants to return to the squared circle.

The leadup:

Pre-fight antics:

Bout highlights:

The entire first round:

What’s next for Sonny Bill? You tell us.

• The sides were locked at twenty-six points apiece after regulation, so two ten-minute extra periods were played.
• With the draw unbroken after extra time, the number of tries scored in the match was the next tiebreaker. This was moot, however, as each side had scored two tries during the match.
• each side nominated five kickers to attempt one placekick at goal each from the 22-meter line in front of the posts.
• After each side made four goals, the kicking competition went into “sudden-death” mode (wherein the first side to miss a goal loses, so long as the other side made a goal in the same round) with a new set of kickers. In the third round of this segment, Cardiff flanker Martyn Williams pushed an attempt wide to end the marathon and send Leicester into the final to be played in a couple of weeks.

The format was unpopular with many given that it forced players specializing in things other than goalkicking to do as much with the match at stake, but it was still exciting. Aside from the tense finish, the match also served to answer a few fans’ curiosity regarding how a tie is resolved in a knockout match after extra time.

Or did it? Actually, even though the format seen last weekend is used in the Heineken Cup, the format will be reconsidered next year. Further, other competitions don’t do it the same way, so seeing the shoot-out last weekend actually tells very little about how the matter is settled throughout the sport.

If you’ve read this far, we assume you’re interested in hearing how all of the competitions settle a draw in playoff situations where a winner must be determined, so here’s a partial list of competitions and their tiebreaking methods:

• The Guinness Premiership (England’s top domestic competition) has a similar format as the Heineken Cup, but the kicks vary in placement by round with some in front of the posts, some 15 meters from the left and right touch lines, and some 5 meters from each touch line.
• In the Super 14 (featuring top sides from New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa), two formats are used, on for the semifinals and one for the finals. In the semis, the sides play two ten-minute extra time periods, after which the deadlock is broken by number of tries scored in the semifinal. After that, though, the similarities with the Heineken Cup and Guiness Premiership end, as the winner is decided by who finished higher during the regular season. The final works the same for the most part, except that the championship is shared as a draw after two periods of extra time if the scored are still level.
• The Magners League (featuring top sides from Ireland, Wales, and Scotland) doesn’t have to deal with the issue, as they don’t have knockout matches and determine their winner after the regular schedule. This year, in fact, Munster clinched the title two matches left to play
• We couldn’t find a clear statement of the American Super League’s format, but we know from the 2008 final that “sudden-death” extra time is played after two extra time periods until one side scores to win.
• The tiebreaker methods used in the Top 14 (France’s top domestic competion) and Super 10 (Italy’s top domestic competition) elude Armchair Playmaker’s limited translation resources. Readers who are more adept at French and Italian are encouraged to chime in!

How do they handle it in rugby league? We’ll spare you the details, but note that for most competitions a “golden point” sudden-death period is either played after 80 minutes (as is done in the National Rugby League in every match) or after two short two extra time periods. The golden point seems to work pretty well–in fact, Leicester seems to support the idea after suffering through the alternative.

Hopefully, that satisfies your curiosity about how a draw is avoided when a draw will not do. Meanwhile, here are a few views of last weekend’s historic moment:

Here’s how the cameras caught it:

And here’s how it looked from at least one spot in the crowd:

We’re not sure it’s fair to focus on a missed goal from a player of Martyn Williams’ stature, especially considering that he probably never expected to be kicking at goal that day, so we’ll end here with a cheerier moment from early in Williams’ standout career (this one from more than a decade ago, before he ever donned a Cardiff shirt):