2001 Six Nations Championship in October. Despite their final match defeat, England set new records for points scored (229), tries scored (29) and overall points-difference (+149). The teams involved were: 2001 Six Nations Championship The 2001 Six Nations Championship was the second series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, and the 107th international championship overall. The tournament was affected by an outbreak of the highly infectious livestock disease foot and mouth in Britain. As a consequence, there were restrictions on travel and Ireland's three fixtures against the home nations were postponed until September and October. The eventual winners were England for the second
The Rugby Championship than Italy and Ireland among the Six Nations teams. Australia and New Zealand first played each other in 1903. South Africa toured both nations in 1921 but there was never any formal competition between these teams, unlike the Home Nations (now known as the Six Nations Championship) in the Northern Hemisphere and the three nations only met sporadically. In the 1930s, Australia and New Zealand started contesting the Bledisloe Cup during rugby tours between the two countries. The final acceptance of professionalism in rugby union launched the Tri Nations concept - nearing the completion of the 1995 Rugby World Cup,