The annual Six Nations Rugby Competition is due to start next month, between England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy.

Historically, the English and Scottish started playing rugby union in 1871 which became the Home International Championship, with Ireland and Wales joining in 1883. One hundred years ago the French, who had played a few of the tournaments, made the competition the “Five Nations”.  Italy joined in 2000, hence the “Six Nations Championship”, with the Women’s Six Nations Competition commencing in 2001.

During the Championship each team plays each of the other teams just once with two points awarded to the winning team, one point each for a draw and no points for a loss. If a team wins every game they achieve a Grand Slam. If a Home Nation beats three other Home Nations, they win the Triple Crown Trophy, which was an invisible cup until 2006.

The Championship Trophy was first presented to France, the winners of 1993. Made by a team of silversmiths, the trophy, valued at around £55,000, was originally of silver but due to champagne corrosion (it can hold five bottles worth!) it is now covered with 22 carat gold plate. The 15 team members are represented by the 15 side panels of the Championship Trophy, with the referee and two touch judges represented by three handles.

The first match in 2010 will be Ireland v Italy on Saturday 6 February at 2.30pm playing at Croke Park in Dublin. The second match that day kicks off at 5pm at Twickenham with England playing Wales. Scotland and France will play at Murrayfield, Edinburgh at 3pm on Sunday 7 February.

Valentines weekend sees Wales playing Scotland at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, with France v Ireland at the Stade de France in Saint Denis near Paris – both matches are on Saturday 13 February.  At the Stadio Flainio in Rome on Sunday 14th Italy will play England at 3.30 local time.

Wales will then play France on the evening of Friday 26 February with Italy playing Scotland and England playing Ireland on Saturday afternoon.

Two weeks later on Saturday 13th March, Ireland will play Wales and Scotland will play England; France plays Italy on Sunday. The final three matches will all be played on Saturday 20th March; Wales v Italy at 2.30pm, Ireland v Scotland 5pm, France v England 8.45pm.

Ireland won the 2009 Six Nations Competition with a Grand Slam as Wales did in 2008. Who will win 2010?

With car hire shortages anticipated from 19th December for the Christmas and New Year holiday period 2009/2010, easyCar are warning their customers to book car hire NOW to avoid disappointment. 

The demand for rental cars has been historically high in the UK and Ireland during the Christmas season, but shortages are expected this winter in the popular cities and resorts of France, Portugal and Spain too.

easyCar reported in June 2009 that many areas of the UK, France and Spain had actually run out of hire cars during Easter, with the credit crunch leading car hire fleet operators to use their current stock of cars for longer periods, and not replace all of the older vehicles. A number of sources throughout the summer also stated that holidaymakers were more likely to book the small cars as they presumed they were cheaper, although this wasn’t always the case, which then led to the smaller cars being in very short supply.

Again the message regarding Christmas car hire availability with the shortage of cars and increasing prices being a problem, is that if you want to be sure that you will get the hire car of your choice, do not leave your rental booking until the last minute – BOOK NOW!

Flight only holidays become very popular in the autumn and spring, as these “periods” are predominately known as “off peak”, so tickets are easier to purchase, prices are lower, and availability of car hire and hotel or self catering accommodation, more readily available.

This is also the time for airline “seat sales” where if you book by a certain period, prices can start from as little as £6.00 per person each way (watch out for taxes and additional fees though)!

To keep your flight only price down, also look at departing from a regional airport like Bristol, Liverpool and East Midlands, or Plymouth and Southampton, as opposed to Gatwick or Heathrow. Also look at the arrival airports, and maybe Reus is cheaper than Barcelona or Beauvais cheaper than Paris Charles de Gaulle! The more flexible you are with your travel dates, the more chance you have of bagging a bargain!

So where might you like a cheap flight with almost certain accommodation available?

The south of Spain would be ideal! Buy a cheap flight to Malaga, with any number of self catering studios or low cost hotels available on the Costa del Sol coast, so that you could stay in Mijas, Nerja, Marbella or Estepona.

Dublin, capital of Eire is great for an autumn break; not far but full of life! Do have a quick look at availability in general around your selected dates though, just in case there are any trade shows on…

How about budget flights to Funchal in Madeira? Well known for its high number of beds, there is an excellent choice of accommodation from budget 3 star to glorious and luxurious five star hotels.
Riga, the capital of Latvia is still not well known in the UK, but there are apartments, hostels and hotel accommodation readily available; the historical centre has been declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

You could fly to Shannon in Ireland, Toulon in southern France, Alicante on the east coast of Spain, or Turin or Rimini in northern Italy! There are cheap flights to Tenerife in the Canaries, Marrakesh in Morocco and Porto in northern Portugal – to name but a few!