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:

The Americans’ competition will be tough, as they have been placed in a pool that includes Australia, Ireland, Italy, and a to-be-named European side. For now, though, we may as well just enjoy the full match footage of this past Saturday’s qualifer, courtest of the USA Rugby Ustream Channel:

First Half:

Second Half:

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.

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.

• 7 June: New Zealand 21, Ireland 11.
• 7 June: South Africa 43, Wales 17.
• 7 June: Argentina 21, Scotland 15.
• 14 June: New Zealand 37, England 20.
• 14 June: South Africa 37, Wales 21.
• 14 June: Australia 18, Ireland 12.
• 14 June: Scotland 26, Argentina 14.
• 21 June: New Zealand 44, England 12.
• 21 June: South Africa 26, Italy 0.
• 28 June: Australia 34, France 13.
• 28 June: Italy 13, Argentina 12.

So far, then, that’s a 9-2 victory count in favor of the Southern Hemisphere. France takes one more chop at Australia this Saturday, but the trend is pretty well set. Keep in mind, though, that some of the traveling sides have been worn and depleted, and there have been some close finishes that could have easily gone the other way. All in all, though, the visitors have not fared well.

Southern hemisphere sides head north in November, where some of the same troubles tend to plague the visitors then as well.

The end result is at least one newspaper editorial calling for an end to the obligatory annual tours, perhaps to be replaced by less frequent visits of more substance and more June matches with smaller Southern Hemisphere sides. Armchair Playmaker is intrigued, but dares not comment. Do you?

To the dedicated European Rugby Union fan, this is old news. To a more casual observer, though, the question might be: What are all of these comps, and why are the same sides in them? For that casual observer, we offer a run-down of the labyrinthine structure of the European rugby union competitions. Get comfortable. This is going to take a while.

Okay, let’s start with the top domestic comps:

The Guinness Premiership (henceforth GP) is the top professional competition in England. It features 12 sides, all English. In the past, it’s been known by other names due to sponsorship, such as the Zurich Premiership. The side that claims the wooden spoon in this competition is relegated to play in the lower National Division One competition the following year, while the National Division One champ is promoted to the GP. Incidentally, the National Division One is made up of professional and semi-professional sides, and the next levels are National Division Two and National Division Three (the latter of which is divided into North and South).

In France, the top professional domestic competition is the aptly named Top 14. If you need further explanation as to how many sides compete in it, you would make a great rugby league prop forward. The bottom two sides in this comp each year slide down to Rugby Pro D2, who sends its top two sides up to the Top 14. Both of these levels of competition are managed by Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which translates to “National Rugby League,” a name that might remind some of the shameful history of the French Rugby Federation’s collaboration with the Vichy regime to wipe out rugby league in France.

But we digress. Anyway, Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), Scotland, and Wales all compete together in their top professional competition, the Magners League, so it’s more of a quasi-domestic competition. There are currently ten sides in the Magners League: Four Irish (including Northern Ireland), Four Welsh, and two Scottish. Because the sides in this competition are regional and provincial sides, there is no promotion or relegation system (though sides are occasionally eliminated by restructuring implemented by their overseeing unions). Not too long ago, it was called the Celtic League.

In Italy, the Super 10 is the top rugby union level. There does not appear to be a standard system of promotion and relegation with the next level, the 12-team Serie A.

If you got all that, then it’s time to share the multinational competitions that sides rom more than one of these comps play in:

The Heineken Cup/H-Cup features 24 sides from the above domestic competitions (based on the previous year’s results), which are arranged into six pools of four who play six pool matchs plus quarterfinal, semifinal, and final knockout rounds. The GP and Top 14 each put their top six sides in it, and the top three Irish, top three Welsh, and top two Scottish sides from the Magners League go in as well. One more entrant comes from France, England or Italy (whichever of the three nations produced the top finisher among them the previous year), and the last is from a play-in round between the top Super 10 and Magners League sides who have not already qualified. At this point, you may want to rest up before reading further.

The European Challenge Cup is the next level of pan-European competition. It’s essentially a second-tier Heineken Cup. All of the sides from the GP, Magners League, and Top 14 that don’t make it to the Heineken Cup go into the European Challenge Cup, as do four clubs from the Super 10 that didn’t make the Heineken Cup. Then, just to mix things up, they chuck in a Romanian side, Bucureşti, which is formed specially for the European Challenge Cup. Five pools of four sides each are formed and each side plays six pool matches to determine who makes the quarterfinal knockout rounds, which are followed by semis and the final. Oh, and among its previous names is the Parker Pen Cup.

Ok, we’re almost done. The EDF Energy Cup involves only the 12 GP sides and the four Welsh teams from the Magners League, which is why it’s also called the Anglo-Welsh Cup. Not long ago, it was the Powergen Cup. Four pools of four sides each (three English, one Welsh) are formed, each side plays three pool matches, and each pool winner makes the semifinals to see who moves on to the final.

So there you have it. A lot of clubs from a fair few nations playing ina lot of competitions. The last source of occasional confusion comes from the timing of the comps. They all overlap wildly. In 2007-2008, for example, the Heineken Cup started pool matches in November (not counting the play-in round in May) and will end this weekend. The European Challenge Cup runs a similar schedule, which started last November and ends 25 May with a Bath v. Worcester final. The EDF Energy Cup began last October and ended in April (the Neath-Swansea Ospreys beat Leicester in the final) The GP started last September and will end next weekend, and the Magners League started at the end of August and ended on 10 May (Leinster won it based on table results as there are no knockout matches).

The Top 14 started in October and will end in June, and the Super 10 started in October and will end this weekend. This year was a little out of the ordinary due to the World Cup, but you get the idea.

If you can keep all of that sorted, you’re up on rugby union in Europe. If you can’t, I don’t think you’re alone.