Martin Johnson and Sam Warburton join BBC Six Nations team

• World Cup-winning former England captain Martin Johnson and British and Irish Lions’ captain Sam Warburton join BBC team
• John Inverdale and Gabby Logan front BBC TV’s eight live games
• Live commentary of every home nations game on Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra
• Extensive BBC Sport digital offering available for audiences wherever and whenever

Rugby legends Martin Johnson and Sam Warburton will join the BBC’s pundit line-up for the 2018 NatWest Six Nations Championship.

Revealing today its TV, radio and digital plans for Six Nations, BBC Sport will bring live TV coverage of eight live games on BBC One, with live commentary of every home nations game on Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra. Live and interactive coverage will available throughout via the UK’s biggest sports website, BBC Sport online.

BBC Sport will also live stream eight live TV games online to desktops, tablets, mobiles and Connected TVs, with audiences also able to watch live on BBC iPlayer or via the Red Button.

BBC One kicks off the Championship on 3 February with a highly anticipated, live double bill of Wales v Scotland, followed by France v Ireland. Later, key live matches on the BBC include Scotland v England and France v England, as well as the concluding match when Wales hosts France.

The BBC’s TV coverage is being led by John Inverdale and Gabby Logan, with expert analysis and input from a stellar pundit line-up made up of Paul O’Connell, Jeremy Guscott, Jonathan Davies, Martyn Williams, Brian Moore, Chris Paterson, Andy Nicol and former France coach Philippe Saint-André.
New for 2018, two-time Lions captain Martin Johnson takes to screens for the BBC’s live coverage of the Six Nations.

Martin says: "I'm really looking forward to being part of the BBC team. The Six Nations is a tournament very close to my heart and has provided me with some incredible memories during my rugby career."

Another new face to the BBC Six Nations team is British and Irish Lions’ captain Sam Warburton, bringing his expert knowledge as a current player to the line-up.

Sam says: “It’s fantastic to be part of the BBC Six Nations team. While I'll miss being out there on the pitch it's great to still be involved in this incredible tournament. I'm looking forward to sharing my own experience of the Six Nations with the BBC viewers."

All of Wales’, Scotland’s and France’s home games are live on BBC One with TV commentary from Eddie Butler and Andrew Cotter.

From pitch side, Sonja McLaughlan and Lee McKenzie will give viewers live updates of the action. Lee will also front a weekly BBC Two Sunday night programme that brings all the highlights, action and news from the Women's Six Nations. Action clips will also be available online.

BBC Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra offers comprehensive radio coverage with live commentary from all of the Championship’s home nations matches.

The BBC's rugby union correspondent Ian Robertson will lead the 5 live commentary team, while Chris Jones will be inside the England camp throughout the Six Nations. Other commentators include Gareth Lewis, Iain Carter, Matt Dawson, Sara Orchard, Rory Lawson, Gavin Hastings, Rob Jones, Paul Grayson and Denis Hickie.

The Matt Dawson Rugby Show will be back on 5 live on Thursday nights throughout the Championship, as well as on the BBC Sport website. The Rugby Union Weekly podcast available every Monday sees Ugo Monye and Chris Jones discuss all the latest Six Nations news.

A comprehensive digital service enables fans to share in all the excitement through the BBC Sport website and via the BBC Sport app on mobiles, tablets and connected TVs. Fans will be able to sign up for push alerts and use the My Sport service, for a more personalised offer.

The BBC Live pages will also cover every minute of every match day with live text commentary, video streams, clips, stats and social media content.

There will be in-play highlights of BBC games and match highlights of every match shortly after the final whistle.

Ahead of each Six Nations weekend, the BBC News Channel will show Inside Six Nations, a programme previewing the weekend’s action and major talking points with special guests and features.

BBC Sport’s social media accounts, which have over 20 million followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat will provide all of the latest breaking news and some of the best clips from the tournament catching all of the most crucial, dramatic and shareable moments in all their glory.

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Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales coverage

BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Sport NI will have live commentary of Ireland’s Six Nations games on BBC Radio Ulster and on the BBC Sport NI website. The coverage is presented by Gavin Andrews with commentary from Jim Neilly and former Ireland outhalf, Tony Ward. Analysts during the tournament will include Championship winners Andrew Trimble and Chris Henry as well as 92-times capped Malcolm O’Kelly.

BBC Scotland
There will be build-up and full live commentaries for all of Scotland’s games on BBC Radio Scotland with all the latest news and features on the BBC Sport Scotland website. BBC Scotland’s Facebook page will stream live video interviews midweek during the tournament and on match days, with guests including Gregor Townsend. Scotland captain John Barclay will also write a weekly online column for the BBC Sport Scotland website.

BBC Wales
All of Wales’ matches will be live on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru, and BBC Wales television will also provide live coverage of Wales’ games against Scotland, Italy and France. Additionally, S4C will have live television coverage of every Wales game on Clwb Rygbi Rhyngwladol, which is a BBC Wales production for S4C.

In addition to live match commentary of all five Wales games, BBC Radio Wales will be running its Six Nations Legends competition and giving one lucky listener the opportunity to win tickets to all five matches, including travel and accommodation to the two away games.

On BBC Wales TV, Gabby Logan and Gareth Thomas present a new show, Gabby and Gareth’s Big Six Nations Kick off, aimed at kick-starting the rugby party, ahead of the Six Nations. They will be joined in front of a studio audience by a host of guests including players and comedians.

Scrum V will broadcast on BBC Two Wales each Sunday evening during the tournament, with Six Nations highlights, analysis and debate on all of the weekend’s action in front of a live studio audience.

BBC and ITV allocation

The NatWest 2018 Six Nations Championship TV coverage will be shared between BBC and ITV as follows:

BBC TV schedule

Saturday 3 February
1.15-1.45pm - Six Nations Preview (BBC One)
1.45-4.15pm - Six Nations: Wales v Scotland (BBC One)
4.15-7pm - Six Nations: France v Ireland (BBC One)

Sunday 4 February
6-7pm - Six Nations Rugby Special (BBC Two)

Sunday 11 February
2.30-5pm - Six Nations: Scotland v France (BBC One)

Friday 23 February
7.30-10pm - Six Nations: France v Italy (BBC One)

Saturday 24 February
4-7pm (TBC) - Six Nations: Scotland v England (BBC One)

Saturday 10 March
4-7pm - Six Nations: France v England (BBC One)

Sunday 11 March
2.30-5pm - Six Nations: Wales v Italy (BBC One)

Saturday 17 March
4.30-7pm - Six Nations: Wales v France (BBC One)

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