On February 5th, the 6 Nations Tournament opened its 2005 Season. Wales won over England in a surprising victory, and France defeated Scotland in a sold-out Stade de France. The results, standings and match reports can be found at 6nations.net, the official website of the tournament.

Like so many consumer sites on the Internet, it seems that 6Nations.net is designed by techies without much supervision from a brand manager. If we were to hide the logo and the front picture of a player flattening the ball, this site could as well promote the dentist association or a bridge club. In sum, it misses the point of building a brand image.

Even from a usability viewpoint, the site is average without being great. For instance, a click on the logo does not redirect to the home page and, with 13 different options, the navigation menu would gain if it were leaner.

In terms of respect for the customers (i.e., the fans), this official website is over 95 percent in English regardless of the sensitivity of the French, Italians, and other nations, for their native tongues. Respect for others is a huge part of rugby, something that many sports have lost or never had. Rugby fans don't punch each other in the stadium, players of all sides socialize with each other, and many referees address players in their own language. Therefore, one would expect an official rugby site to be translated in the local languages.

As rugby knows well, the image of a sport is built both on and off the field. Unfortunately, the official web presence of the 6 Nations Tournament does not contribute much to that effort. Overall, it is not apparent that the Tournament actually realizes they have a brand. The website's content provides a decent support to the Tournament but falls flat as far as building excitement and passion for such a remarkable and established sports tradition.