The Grand Slam

The Grand Slam is arguably the biggest achievement in international test rugby outside of winning the Rugby World Cup. To claim a Grand Slam a team competing in the Six Nations must put on a flawless display of strength, skill and perseverance, winning all five of their Six Nations fixtures to win the tournament.

Using the term Grand Slam to describe a perfect run of victories in the Six Nations dates back to 1957 when the phrase was used to describe England’s attempts to achieve a clean sweep of victory in the Five Nations by beating Scotland at Murrayfield.

Although there is no tangible prize or trophy to celebrate a Grand Slam victory in the Six Nations, the achievement is recognised as one of the biggest in rugby.

Grand Slam Champions

In over a hundred years of Six Nations rugby, the Grand Slam has only been achieved 34 times. England has the best record of scoring Grand Slam victories, having beaten all their European opponents in a single campaign on 12 occasions.

Wales is the second most successful Grand Slam team, with 10 Grand Slams to its name. Two of these Grand Slams have come since Italy joined the tournament, making this achievement all the more impressive.

France has achieved Grand Slam victories on eight occasions, making up for lost time after winning a Grand Slam for the first time in 1968. The French are also the last team to have achieved consecutive Grand Slam victories.

The Scots have claimed three Grand Slams during their long and distinguished Six Nations history. The Scots claimed their first Grand Slam in 1925, before coming back strongly in the 1980s to score another two Grand Slam victories.

Ireland, despite claiming a number of Triple Crowns over recent years, has rarely managed to translate its Triple Crown success into Grand Slam victories. In 2009 the Irish ended a 64 year long Grand Slam drought by defeating Wales in their final Six Nations match with a last-minute drop goal by Ronan O’Gara.

Italy is yet to win a Grand Slam, but will take heart from the fact that it took France the best part of 60 years to achieve their first grand slam, with the French only winning the Six Nations outright for the first time in 1959.

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