Grand Slam (Rugby Union)
Encyclopedia
In rugby union
, a Grand Slam (Welsh: Y Gamp Lawn. French: Le Grand Chelem) occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship
(or its Five Nations predecessor) manages to beat all the others during one year's competition. The last team to have won the Six Nations Grand Slam was France
in 2010
.
and its Five Nations predecessor, a grand slam occurs when one team beats all its opponents during one year's competition. The Grand Slam winners are awarded the Six Nations trophy (as tournament winners), but there is no special grand slam trophy — the Grand Slam is an informal honour recognizing an undefeated Champion.
Although the term Grand Slam had long been in use in the game of Contract Bridge
, the first time that the expression is known to have been applied to rugby union
was in 1957, in a preview of a match between England and :
Three teams — (1908 and 09), (1913 and 14, 1923 and 24, 1991 and 92), and (1997 and 98) — have won two consecutive Grand Slams; no team has yet achieved three consecutive Grand Slams.
Prior to 2000, each team played four matches, two at home and two away from home. Following the inclusion of in 2000, each team plays five matches, two at home and three away in one year, and the opposite in the following season. When Wales
won the Grand Slam in 2005, it was the first time that the feat had been achieved by a team that had played more matches away than at home. This was repeated in 2009 with Ireland winning matches away to Italy, Scotland and Wales. The Welsh Grand Slam in 2008 saw them become the second team to win two Grand Slams in the Six Nations, but the first to do so with both three away games and two home games.
The Grand Slam has been achieved 35 times — England leads, with 12 wins, followed by Wales (10), France (9), Scotland (3) and Ireland (2). Italy has yet to win a Grand Slam, but has also only been in the tournament since it expanded to six nations in 2000.
France is the most successful Grand Slam winners in the time since they entered the competition. Since WWII, after the years when France was expelled from the competition. Excluding Italy, they have all met 62 times with the following results:
Winners: France (24), Wales (21), England (16), Ireland (9), Scotland (6).
Outright Winner: France (16), Wales (14), England (12), Ireland (7), Scotland (3).
Grand Slam Wins: France (9), Wales (7), England (6), Ireland (2), Scotland (2).
Similar in concept to the Grand Slam is the Triple Crown
, which is won if a team from one of the Home Nations
of the British Isles
(England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) manages to beat the other three teams. The term Triple Crown originated when these were the only four teams competing in the predecessor Home Nations Championship, thus the Triple Crown — like the present Grand Slam — once signified the undefeated champion of the tournament.
or Australia
plays Test matches against the four Home Nations
of the British Isles
: England
, Wales
, Ireland
, and Scotland
. If the tourists win all four games, they are said to have achieved a grand slam.
Wins against all four Home Nations in the same tour have been achieved South Africa (4 times), New Zealand (4) and Australia (1). Australia holds the distinction of being the only team to suffer an unofficial 'grand slam of defeats' against the Home Nations, on their 1957–58 tour).
After 1984, Southern Hemisphere sides started to tour the British Isles more frequently, but to play fewer tests on each tour, and thus there were no Grand Slam tours between 1984 and 1998. However, since 1998 Grand Slam tours have become quite common again, as the number of tests on each tour has again increased (to the detriment of other matches against local club/provincial teams within each nation). The last successful grand slam tour was in 2010, when New Zealand achieved their fourth grand slam. The All Blacks' first Grand Slam tour of the 2000s, in 2005, was originally intended to include only three Test matches; only the late inclusion of the game against Wales made it possible for the All Blacks even to contemplate winning the grand slam. In addition, New Zealand played only test matches in 2005 and 2010 and played only one non-test in 2008, as opposed to frequent midweek and weekend tour games against provincial sides which categorised other Grand Slam tours.
were defeated) are indicated with a green check mark.
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, a Grand Slam (Welsh: Y Gamp Lawn. French: Le Grand Chelem) occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship
Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
(or its Five Nations predecessor) manages to beat all the others during one year's competition. The last team to have won the Six Nations Grand Slam was France
France national rugby union team
The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...
in 2010
2010 Six Nations Championship
The 2010 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2010 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 11th series of the Six Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition between the six major Northern Hemisphere rugby union national teams...
.
Six Nations Championship
In the Six Nations ChampionshipSix Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
and its Five Nations predecessor, a grand slam occurs when one team beats all its opponents during one year's competition. The Grand Slam winners are awarded the Six Nations trophy (as tournament winners), but there is no special grand slam trophy — the Grand Slam is an informal honour recognizing an undefeated Champion.
Although the term Grand Slam had long been in use in the game of Contract Bridge
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
, the first time that the expression is known to have been applied to rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
was in 1957, in a preview of a match between England and :
Three teams — (1908 and 09), (1913 and 14, 1923 and 24, 1991 and 92), and (1997 and 98) — have won two consecutive Grand Slams; no team has yet achieved three consecutive Grand Slams.
Prior to 2000, each team played four matches, two at home and two away from home. Following the inclusion of in 2000, each team plays five matches, two at home and three away in one year, and the opposite in the following season. When Wales
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
won the Grand Slam in 2005, it was the first time that the feat had been achieved by a team that had played more matches away than at home. This was repeated in 2009 with Ireland winning matches away to Italy, Scotland and Wales. The Welsh Grand Slam in 2008 saw them become the second team to win two Grand Slams in the Six Nations, but the first to do so with both three away games and two home games.
The Grand Slam has been achieved 35 times — England leads, with 12 wins, followed by Wales (10), France (9), Scotland (3) and Ireland (2). Italy has yet to win a Grand Slam, but has also only been in the tournament since it expanded to six nations in 2000.
France is the most successful Grand Slam winners in the time since they entered the competition. Since WWII, after the years when France was expelled from the competition. Excluding Italy, they have all met 62 times with the following results:
Winners: France (24), Wales (21), England (16), Ireland (9), Scotland (6).
Outright Winner: France (16), Wales (14), England (12), Ireland (7), Scotland (3).
Grand Slam Wins: France (9), Wales (7), England (6), Ireland (2), Scotland (2).
List of Grand Slam Winners
| Nation | W | Grand Slam Season |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | 1913, 1914, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1957, 1980, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2003 | |
| 10 | 1908, 1909, 1911, 1950, 1952, 1971, 1976, 1978, 2005, 2008 | |
| 9 | 1968, 1977, 1981, 1987, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2010 | |
| 3 | 1925, 1984, 1990 | |
| 2 | 1948, 2009 | |
| 0 |
List of Winners
| 1882–1907 | France did not take part in the championship |
| 1908 | |
| 1909 | |
| 1911 | |
| 1913 | |
| 1914 | |
| 1915–19 | No tournament during World War I World War I World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918... |
| 1921 | |
| 1923 | |
| 1924 | |
| 1925 | |
| 1928 | |
| 1932–39 | France was suspended from the championship |
| 1940–46 | No tournament during World War II World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... |
| 1948 | |
| 1950 | |
| 1952 | |
| 1957 | |
| 1968 | |
| 1971 | |
| 1976 | |
| 1977 | |
| 1978 | |
| 1980 | |
| 1981 | |
| 1984 | |
| 1987 | |
| 1990 | |
| 1991 | |
| 1992 | |
| 1995 | |
| 1997 | |
| 1998 | |
| 2000 | Tournament expanded to include Italy. |
| 2002 | |
| 2003 | |
| 2004 | |
| 2005 | |
| 2008 | |
| 2009 | |
| 2010 |
Similar in concept to the Grand Slam is the Triple Crown
Triple Crown (Rugby Union)
In rugby union, the Triple Crown is an honour contested annually by the four national teams of the British Isles who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship: England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. If any one team manages to win all their games against the other three they win the...
, which is won if a team from one of the Home Nations
Home Nations
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on the context. Politically, it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom...
of the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
(England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) manages to beat the other three teams. The term Triple Crown originated when these were the only four teams competing in the predecessor Home Nations Championship, thus the Triple Crown — like the present Grand Slam — once signified the undefeated champion of the tournament.
Grand Slam Tour
A Grand Slam tour is one in which a touring national team from New Zealand, South AfricaSouth Africa national rugby union team
The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
or Australia
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
plays Test matches against the four Home Nations
Home Nations
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on the context. Politically, it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom...
of the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
: England
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
, Wales
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
, Ireland
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
, and Scotland
Scotland national rugby union team
The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...
. If the tourists win all four games, they are said to have achieved a grand slam.
Wins against all four Home Nations in the same tour have been achieved South Africa (4 times), New Zealand (4) and Australia (1). Australia holds the distinction of being the only team to suffer an unofficial 'grand slam of defeats' against the Home Nations, on their 1957–58 tour).
 |
1912–13, 1931–32, 1951–52, 1960–61 |
| 1978, 2005, 2008, 2010 | |
| 1984 |
After 1984, Southern Hemisphere sides started to tour the British Isles more frequently, but to play fewer tests on each tour, and thus there were no Grand Slam tours between 1984 and 1998. However, since 1998 Grand Slam tours have become quite common again, as the number of tests on each tour has again increased (to the detriment of other matches against local club/provincial teams within each nation). The last successful grand slam tour was in 2010, when New Zealand achieved their fourth grand slam. The All Blacks' first Grand Slam tour of the 2000s, in 2005, was originally intended to include only three Test matches; only the late inclusion of the game against Wales made it possible for the All Blacks even to contemplate winning the grand slam. In addition, New Zealand played only test matches in 2005 and 2010 and played only one non-test in 2008, as opposed to frequent midweek and weekend tour games against provincial sides which categorised other Grand Slam tours.
List of Grand Slam tours
Successful tours (in which the national team of all four Home NationsHome Nations
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on the context. Politically, it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom...
were defeated) are indicated with a green check mark.
| Teams | Achieved | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1905-1906 | ||
| South Africa South Africa national rugby union team The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental... |
1906 | |
| 1912–1913 | ||
| 1927–1928 | ||
| 1931–1932 | ||
| 1935–1936 | ||
| 1947–1948 | ||
| 1951–1952 | ||
| 1953–1954 | ||
| 1958 | ||
| 1960–1961 | ||
| 1963–1964 | ||
| 1966–1967 | ||
| 1969–1970 | ||
| 1972–1973 | ||
| 1975–1976 | ||
| 1978 | ||
| 1981–1982 | ||
| 1984 | ||
| 1998 | ||
| 2004 | ||
| 2005 | ||
| 2008 | ||
| 2009 | ||
| 2010 | ||
| 2010 |
See also
- Six Nations Wooden Spoon
- Six Nations ChampionshipSix Nations ChampionshipThe Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
- Triple CrownTriple Crown (Rugby Union)In rugby union, the Triple Crown is an honour contested annually by the four national teams of the British Isles who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship: England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. If any one team manages to win all their games against the other three they win the...
- Calcutta CupCalcutta CupThe Calcutta Cup is a rugby union trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Six Nations Championship match between England and Scotland. It is currently England's since the 2009 Six Nations Championship....