Watching live Rugby: SMARTY's top tips

Saturday sees the start of this year’s Six Nations Rugby tournament, kicking off a big year for the sport, with the World Cup also taking place in France this Autumn. There’s lots to be excited about wherever you’re from in the home nations, with each national team playing in both competitions.

Following the action

If you’re going to any of the games at Twickenham, you’ll be able to make use of free Wi-Fi on the London Underground, courtesy of our sister-network Three. Better yet, if you’ve been lucky enough to get tickets to one of the games taking place in Ireland, France or Italy, remember that you can use your SMARTY plan as normal! Your roaming allowance gives you unlimited calls, texts and up to 12GB of data, all at no extra cost. All you have to do for this to work is make a one-off change to your phone settings – it’s easy and only takes a couple of minutes. For those of us who will be watching on from home, all games will be broadcast on BBC One or ITV One - this handy fixture list on the Six Nations website shows which channel each match is on.

Getting World Cup tickets

If you’re setting your sights on a trip to France later in the year, tickets went on sale in September and so are looking quite hard to come by, although the resale window recently opened on the official Rugby World Cup website and some tickets are popping up from time to time. If you are considering this, take your time. These can be bought right up to 24 hours before the game, so it would be sensible to do some research into prices, be patient and wait for the right deal – there’s no rush!

No tournament tickets? No problem!

Although getting tickets for these tournaments may be difficult, seeing the players in them doesn’t have to be! Many clubs around the UK have players competing in the Six Nations and lots of these will still be in action during the tournament period, so it will still be possible to enjoy some quality live rugby at cheaper prices. Looking at the British and Irish national squads, these are the clubs in each home nation that have had the most players picked:

• England: Saracens are currently the top team in English Rugby, sitting at the top of the Gallagher Premiership table with a healthy lead. They play Newcastle Falcons at the StoneX Stadium on Saturday 25th February, with adult tickets starting from £30 here.

• Scotland: Glasgow Warriors have a United Rugby Championship (URC) match against Ulster at the Scotstoun Stadium on Friday 17th February. The two sides are 5th and 3rd in the table, so you can expect a hard-fought match. Find adult tickets from £17 here.

• Wales: Ospreys host Dragons RFC in a derby match at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday 25th March. As both sides will be looking to climb the URC table and the Dragons beat the Ospreys when the two sides last met, this is shaping up to be a cracker. You can buy adult tickets from £18 here.

• Northern Ireland: Ulster take on South African side Vodacom Bulls at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday 25th March. With currently only three points separating the teams in the URC, both will be determined to take home four points with a victory. Tickets start from £25 and can be bought here.

Whether you’re a seasoned Rugby fan or simply looking to give it a try, there’s plenty to look forward to this year!