{"id":399127,"date":"2026-01-30T17:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/399127\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T17:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:31:09","slug":"wales-announce-major-change-to-welsh-anthem-for-all-home-six-nations-matches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/399127\/","title":{"rendered":"Wales announce major change to Welsh anthem for all home Six Nations matches"},"content":{"rendered":"

The a capella version of the anthem proved a big success in the autumn<\/p>\n

15:25, 30 Jan 2026Updated 15:40, 30 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

\"Wales<\/p>\n

Wales will sing the anthem a cappella for all Six Nations home matches(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)<\/p>\n

The Welsh Rugby Union has announced the national anthem will be sung a capella in all three home fixtures in this year’s Six Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It follows the change to sing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau without the backing of the band in last year’s defeat to New Zealand in November. The a capella version produced a spine-tingling version of the anthem in the Principality Stadium as a result.<\/p>\n

And, following the positive feedback, the WRU have announced all three home matches will have an a capella anthem.<\/p>\n

Wales take on France, Scotland and Italy in Cardiff<\/a> in this year’s tournament.<\/p>\n

JOIN OUR WALES RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest news, analysis and much more<\/a><\/p>\n

The lack of musical backing has been a regular occurrence for the anthem when it comes to Wales’ football team, with fans even singing it at crucial points of the match.<\/p>\n

Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau has traditionally been sung with a band at the Principality Stadium for rugby internationals.<\/p>\n

However, the decision to change for the All Blacks clash last year was to mark the 120-year anniversary since it was first sang at a rugby international.<\/p>\n

,,Epic Wales anthem v New Zealand<\/p>\n

That fixture was, coincidentally, also against New Zealand in 1905.<\/p>\n

On that day, it served as a spontaneous response to the Haka.<\/p>\n

It was also the first time an anthem was sung before any sporting fixture.<\/p>\n

At the time, many called for the change to be made permanent.<\/p>\n

One fan on social media said: “WOW. We just had the anthem at the rugby without the instruments for the first time in years, and it was genuinely incredible.”<\/p>\n

Another added: “Sorry, but that is how the Welsh national anthem should always be sung. The fans, the players, the passion.”<\/p>\n

Countless others from all over the world were blown away, with one English viewer saying: “Can someone send the Welsh singing their national anthem to the English football team and tell em that\u2019s how it\u2019s done!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The a capella version of the anthem proved a big success in the autumn 15:25, 30 Jan 2026Updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,43326,101,56,54,55,9015],"class_list":["post-399127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-six-nations","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales-rugby-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}