TRIPLE CROWN (RUGBY UNION)

In rugby union, the 'Triple Crown' is an honour contested annually by the national teams of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland as part of the Six Nations Championship.
If any one team manages to win all their games against the other three, which does not necessarily happen every season, then they win the Triple Crown. This was most recently achieved by Ireland in 2007.
The RBS 6 Nations Championship also involves France and Italy, but they do not take part in the Triple Crown. A team that beats all five other teams in the RBS 6 Nations is said to have won the Grand Slam.
The team that finishes bottom is said to have won the proverbial wooden spoon, if they lose every game then they are said to have been whitewashed.

Contents

Name

Trophy

Winners

See also

External links

Name

No-one is altogether sure what the origins of the name 'Triple Crown' are. The ''Irish Times''
has the first recorded use of the term in its introduction to the newspaper’s Ireland v Wales match report on Monday, 12 March 1894:
''After long years of seemingly hopeless struggle Ireland has achieved the triple crown honours of Rugby football. For the first time in the annals of the game have the Hibernians proved beyond cavil or doubt their right to be dubbed champions of the nations and that the Irishmen fully deserve the great distinction no one will deny … Hurrah for Hibernia!''
The name may derive from the Triple Crown of James I/VI who was the first King to rule over England, Scotland and Ireland. Wales at that time was treated as being part of England and not a separate entity. In Act 4, scene I of ''Macbeth'', Macbeth refers to King James' "treble sceptre".

Trophy

In 1975 a retired miner by the name of Dave Marrington got to work with his penknife and turned a lump of coal hewn from the Haig Colliery in Cumbria into a surprisingly ornate work. It has a crown sitting on a four-sided base on which are represented a rose, a shamrock, a thistle and the Prince of Wales feathers.
Despite a campaign to have it awarded to the Triple Crown winners, it was rejected by all four Home unions. It is kept in the Museum of Rugby at Twickenham.
As no trophy was historically awarded for winning the Triple Crown, it was often called 'the invisible cup'. However, in 2006, the primary sponsor of the competition, the Royal Bank of Scotland, commissioned a trophy to be awarded to Triple Crown winners. The award, a silver dish known as the Triple Crown Trophy, was contested for the first time in the 2006 Six Nations. Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll claimed the trophy for Ireland at Twickenham on March 18 after a last-minute try from Shane Horgan gave Ireland a 28-24 win over England.

Winners

	1883, 1884, 1892, 1913, 1914, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1934, 1937, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1980, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003 (23 times)
	1894, 1899, 1948, 1949, 1982, 1985, 2004, 2006, 2007 (9 times)
	1891, 1895, 1901, 1903, 1907, 1925, 1933, 1938, 1984, 1990 (10 times)
	1893, 1900, 1902, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1950, 1952, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1988, 2005 (18 times)

1883
1884
1885	Not achieved
1886	Not achieved
1887	Not achieved
1888	Not achieved
1889	Not achieved
1890	Not achieved
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896	Not achieved
1897	Not achieved
1898	Not achieved
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904	Not achieved
1905
1906	Not achieved
1907
1908
1909
1910	Not achieved
1911
1912	Not achieved
1913
1914
1915-19	Not held due to World War I
1920	Not achieved
1921
1922	Not achieved
1923
1924
1925
1926	Not achieved
1927	Not achieved
1928
1929	Not achieved
1930	Not achieved
1931	Not achieved
1932	Not achieved
1933
1934
1935	Not achieved
1936	Not achieved
1937
1938
1939	Not achieved
1940–46	Not held due to World War II
1947	Not achieved
1948
1949
1950
1951	Not achieved
1952
1953	Not achieved
1954
1955	Not achieved
1956	Not achieved
1957
1958	Not achieved
1959	Not achieved
1960
1961	Not achieved
1962	Not achieved
1963	Not achieved
1964	Not achieved
1965
1966	Not achieved
1967	Not achieved
1968	Not achieved
1969
1970	Not achieved
1971
1972	Not achieved
1973	Not achieved
1974	Not achieved
1975	Not achieved
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981	Not achieved
1982
1983	Not achieved
1984
1985
1986	Not achieved
1987	Not achieved
1988
1989	Not achieved
1990
1991
1992
1993	Not achieved
1994	Not achieved
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999	Not achieved
2000	Not achieved
2001	Not achieved
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007

See also

★ Six Nations Championship

★ Grand Slam

★ Calcutta Cup

★ Millennium Trophy

★ Wooden spoon

★ England national rugby union team

★ Ireland national rugby union team

★ Scotland national rugby union team

★ Wales national rugby union team

External links

★ "Triple Crown becomes tangiable (sic)", RugbyRugby.com, 25 January 2006

★ Official Six Nations Site

★ Link to image of Triple Crown Trophy