Grand Slam (rugby union)

For other uses, see Grand Slam.

In rugby union, a Grand Slam (Irish: Caithréim Mhór. 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. This has been achieved 37 times in total, for the first time by Wales in 1908, and most recently by England in 2016. The team to have won the most Grand Slams is England with 13.

In another context, a Grand Slam tour refers to a touring side – South Africa, Australia or New Zealand – which plays fixtures against all four home nations (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) during their tour. If the tourists then win all of those matches, they are said to have achieved a Grand Slam. This has been done nine times, first by South Africa in 1912–13, and most recently by New Zealand in 2010.

Five and Six Nations Championship

In the annual Six Nations Championship (among England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy), and its predecessor the Five Nations Championship (before Italy joined in 2000), a Grand Slam occurs when one team beats all of the others during one year's competition.[1] 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 a Championship-winning team which has won all their games.

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 Scotland:

There is much more than usual at stake for England to-day in the match against Scotland at Twickenham... The last time when England achieved the Grand Slam under present conditions was as long ago as the 1927–28 season, but it is difficult to try to build up a case against her repeating the performance to-day.
— The Times, 16 March 1957

The Grand Slam honour is applied retroactively to teams which won all of their matches in Five Nations tournaments before the term came into use. It is also applied to the 1908 and 1909 seasons, when matches with France took place during, but outside of, the then Home Nations Championships. However the Grand Slam honour is not applied to seasons in which only the four home nations were involved (1883–1907 and 1932–1939) – in that case a team that won all its matches is said to have achieved the Triple Crown. This honour is still competed for between the four home nations within the Six Nations Championship.

A Grand Slam was therefore available in the years 1908–1931 and 1947–1999 (Five Nations) and 2000–2016 (Six Nations), a total of 94 seasons to date. Grand Slams were in fact achieved on 38 of these occasions – 13 by England, 11 by Wales, 9 by France, 3 by Scotland and 2 by Ireland. (Italy, involved in the tournament since 2000, have yet to win a Grand Slam.)

Consecutive Grand Slams have been won by Wales in 1908–1909, by England in 1913–1914, 1923–1924 and 1991–1992, and by France in 1997–1998. 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 Italy 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, and in 2016 by England, who won in Scotland, Italy and France.

Since the addition of Italy in 2000, the Grand Slam (now requiring five victories) has been achieved nine times. No team has yet been denied a Grand Slam solely by failing to beat Italy, in other words completing what would have been a Grand Slam in the former Five Nations but not in the current championship.

Table of Grand Slam winners

Nation Grand Slams Grand Slam winning seasons
 England131913, 1914, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1957, 1980, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2003, 2016
 Wales111908*, 1909*, 1911, 1950, 1952, 1971, 1976, 1978, 2005, 2008, 2012
 France91968, 1977, 1981, 1987, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2010
 Scotland31925, 1984, 1990
 Ireland21948, 2009
 Italy0

* In 1908 and 1909 matches with France were played, although they were not part of the Championship.

Chronological list of Grand Slam winners

1882–1907 France did not take part in the championship
1908  Wales (*see note above)
1909  Wales (*see note above)
1911  Wales
1913  England
1914  England
1915–19 No tournament due to World War I
1921  England
1923  England
1924  England
1925  Scotland
1928  England
1932–39 France was suspended from the championship
1940–46 No tournament due to World War II
1948  Ireland
1950  Wales
1952  Wales
1957  England
1968  France
1971  Wales
1976  Wales
1977  France
1978  Wales
1980  England
1981  France
1984  Scotland
1987  France
1990  Scotland
1991  England
1992  England
1995  England
1997  France
1998  France
2000 Tournament expanded to include Italy.
2002  France[2]
2003  England[3]
2004  France[4]
2005  Wales[5]
2008  Wales[6]
2009  Ireland[7]
2010  France[8]
2012  Wales[9]
2016  England[10]

Grand Slam tours

A Grand Slam tour is one in which a touring national team from New Zealand, South Africa or Australia plays Test matches against all four home nations (England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland). If the tourists win all four of these games, they are said to have achieved a Grand Slam.

Grand Slams by touring teams have been achieved nine times: four times each by South Africa and New Zealand, and once by Australia. The only touring country to have achieved a "Five Nations" Grand Slam (defeating France in addition to the four home countries on the same tour) is South Africa, in its tours of 1912–13 and 1951–52.

Australia is the only country to suffer an unofficial "grand slam of defeats" against the four 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, although fewer matches are now played against club or provincial teams than was formerly the case on Grand Slam tours. For example, New Zealand played only Test matches in 2005 and 2010 and played only one non-Test in 2008 (a midweek match against Munster to commemorate Munster's defeat of the All Blacks in 1978, which had been their only loss on that tour). The All Blacks' tours of 2005 and 2008 were originally planned to include only three Test matches; the late inclusion of matches against Wales and England respectively turned these into Grand Slam tours.

Grand Slams achieved by touring sides

South Africa South Africa  South Africa1912–13, 1931–32, 1951–52, 1960–61
 New Zealand1978, 2005, 2008, 2010
 Australia1984

Overall tour results

Team Tours Achieved Not achieved % Achieved
South Africa South Africa  South Africa 9 4 5 44.4%
 New Zealand 9 4 5 44.4%
 Australia 9 1 8 11.1%
Total 27 9 18 33.3%

List of Grand Slam tours

This is a list of all Grand Slam tours (tours which included fixtures with all four home nations, regardless of the eventual results of those matches). Tours on which the Grand Slam was achieved (wins over all four home nations) are indicated with a green tick.

Key
Denotes a win
Denotes a loss
Year Team Achieved Result Scores
 England  Ireland  Scotland  Wales
1905-06  New Zealand 3 - 1 0 - 15 0 - 15 7 - 12 3 - 0
1906 United Kingdom South Africa 2 - 1 3 - 3 12 - 15 6 - 0 0 - 11
1912-13  South Africa Yes 4 - 0 3 - 9 0 - 38 0 - 16 0 - 3
1927-28  Australia 2 - 2 18 - 11 3 - 5 10 - 8 8 - 18
1931-32  South Africa Yes 4 - 0 0 - 7 3 - 8 3 - 6 3 - 8
1935-36  New Zealand 2 - 2 13 - 0 9 - 17 8 - 18 13 - 12
1947-48  Australia 3 - 1 0 - 11 3 - 16 7 - 16 6 - 0
1951-52  South Africa Yes 4 - 0 3 - 8 5 - 17 0 - 44 3 - 6
1953-54  New Zealand 3 - 1 0 - 5 3 - 14 0 - 3 13 - 8
1958  Australia 0 - 4 9 - 6 9 - 6 12 - 8 9 - 3
1960-61  South Africa Yes 4 - 0 0 - 5 3 - 8 5 - 12 0 - 3
1963-64  New Zealand 3 - 0 0 - 14 5 - 6 0 - 0 0 - 6
1966-67  Australia 2 - 2 11 - 23 15 - 8 11 - 5 11 - 14
1969-70  South Africa 0 - 2 11 - 8 8 - 8 6 - 3 6 - 6
1972-73  New Zealand 3 - 0 0 - 9 10 - 10 9 - 14 16 - 19
1975-76  Australia 1 - 3 23 - 6 10 - 20 10 - 3 28 - 3
1978  New Zealand Yes 4 - 0 6 - 16 6 - 10 9 - 18 12 - 13
1981-82  Australia 1 - 3 15 - 11 12 - 16 24 - 15 18 - 13
1984  Australia Yes 4 - 0 3 - 19 9 - 16 12 - 37 9 - 28
1998  South Africa 3 - 1 13 - 8 13 - 27 10 - 35 20 - 28
2004  South Africa 2 - 2 32 - 16 17 - 12 10 - 45 36 - 38
2005  New Zealand Yes 4 - 0 19 - 23 7 - 45 10 - 29 3 - 41
2008  New Zealand Yes 4 - 0 6 - 32 3 - 22 6 - 32 9 - 29
2009  Australia 2 - 1 9 - 18 20 - 20 9 - 8 12 - 33
2010  New Zealand Yes 4 - 0 16 - 26 18 - 38 3 - 49 25 - 37
2010  South Africa 3 - 1 11 - 21 21 - 23 21 - 17 25 - 29
2013  Australia 3 - 1 20 - 13 15 - 32 15 - 21 26 - 30

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Kitson, Robert (2002-04-08). "France masterclass in doing Le Slam". London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  3. ↑ "Awesome England clinch Grand Slam". BBC Sport Online. 2003-03-30. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  4. ↑ "France win Grand Slam by beating England". Melbourne: www.theage.com.au. 2004-03-28. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  5. ↑ "Wales 32-20 Ireland". BBC Sport Online. 2005-03-19. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  6. ↑ "Wales 29-12 France". BBC Sport Online. 2008-03-15. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  7. ↑ "Wales 15-17 Ireland". BBC Sport Online. 2009-03-21. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  8. ↑ "France 12-10 England". BBC Sport. 2010-03-20. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  9. ↑ "Wales 16-9 France". BBC Sport Online. 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
  10. ↑ "France 21-31 England". BBC Sport Online. 2016-03-19. Retrieved 2016-03-19.

External links

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