Triple Crown (rugby union)
 |
This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2011) |
In rugby union, the Triple Crown (Irish: An Choróin Triarach; Welsh: Y Goron Drifflyg) 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 Triple Crown.
The Six Nations Championship also includes France and Italy, but their involvement in the tournament has no influence on the result of the Triple Crown.
Unlike the Grand Slam, the triple crown winners will not necessarily be the tournament winners, since France or Italy could outperform the Triple Crown winner within the overall Championship. This first occurred in the 1977 Five Nations Championship, when Wales won the Triple Crown by defeating the other three British Isles teams, while France won the Championship by completing the Grand Slam over all four of the British Isles teams.
England won the first Triple Crown — although the phrase was not in use at the time — in the inaugural 1883 series of the original rugby union Home Nations Championship.
The latest winners are Wales, who beat England, 19 – 12, at Twickenham on 25 February 2012.
Contents |
[edit] Name
The origins of the name 'Triple Crown' are uncertain. The concept of a Triple Crown dates to the original Home Nations Championship predecessor of the Six Nations Championship, when the competition only involved England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Like the modern Grand Slam, the Triple Crown was an informal honour to the team that went undefeated to win the Championship.
[edit] Trophy history
In 1975 a retired miner by the name of Dave Merrington from South Hetton, County Durham 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. It is kept in the Museum of Rugby at Twickenham.
As no trophy was awarded for winning the Triple Crown, it was sometimes 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.
[edit] Winners
There has been a Triple Crown winner in 63 of the 116 competitions held from 1883 through to 2012. (12 competitions were cancelled due to the two World Wars.)
Only two teams have achieved the Triple Crown in four consecutive years: Wales (1976–1979) and England (1995–1998). No other teams have won the triple crown more than twice in a row.
 England |
23 | 1883, 1884, 1892, 1913, 1914, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1934, 1937, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1980, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003 |
 Wales |
20 | 1893, 1900, 1902, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1950, 1952, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1988, 2005, 2008, 2012 |
 Ireland |
10 | 1894, 1899, 1948, 1949, 1982, 1985, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009 |
 Scotland |
10 | 1891, 1895, 1901, 1903, 1907, 1925, 1933, 1938, 1984, 1990 |
| 1883 | England |
| 1884 | England |
| 1885-90 | Not achieved |
| 1891 | Scotland |
| 1892 | England |
| 1893 | Wales |
| 1894 | Ireland |
| 1895 | Scotland |
| 1896-98 | Not achieved |
| 1899 | Ireland |
| 1900 | Wales |
| 1901 | Scotland |
| 1902 | Wales |
| 1903 | Scotland |
| 1904 | Not achieved |
| 1905 | Wales |
| 1906 | Not achieved |
| 1907 | Scotland |
| 1908 | Wales |
| 1909 | Wales |
| 1910 | Not achieved |
| 1911 | Wales |
| 1912 | Not achieved |
| 1913 | England |
| 1914 | England |
| 1915-19 | Not held due to World War I |
| 1920 | Not achieved |
| 1921 | England |
| 1922 | Not achieved |
| 1923 | England |
| 1924 | England |
| 1925 | Scotland |
| 1926-27 | Not achieved |
| 1928 | England |
| 1929-32 | Not achieved |
| 1933 | Scotland |
| 1934 | England |
| 1935-36 | Not achieved |
| 1937 | England |
| 1938 | Scotland |
| 1939 | Not achieved |
| 1940–46 | Not held due to World War II |
| 1947 | Not achieved |
| 1948 | Ireland |
| 1949 | Ireland |
| 1950 | Wales |
| 1951 | Not achieved |
| 1952 | Wales |
| 1953 | Not achieved |
| 1954 | England |
| 1955-56 | Not achieved |
| 1957 | England |
| 1958-59 | Not achieved |
| 1960 | England |
| 1961-64 | Not achieved |
| 1965 | Wales |
| 1966-68 | Not achieved |
| 1969 | Wales |
| 1970 | Not achieved |
| 1971 | Wales |
| 1972-75 | Not achieved |
| 1976 | Wales |
| 1977 | Wales |
| 1978 | Wales |
| 1979 | Wales |
| 1980 | England |
| 1981 | Not achieved |
| 1982 | Ireland |
| 1983 | Not achieved |
| 1984 | Scotland |
| 1985 | Ireland |
| 1986-87 | Not achieved |
| 1988 | Wales |
| 1989 | Not achieved |
| 1990 | Scotland |
| 1991 | England |
| 1992 | England |
| 1993-94 | Not achieved |
| 1995 | England |
| 1996 | England |
| 1997 | England |
| 1998 | England |
| 1999-01 | Not achieved |
| 2002 | England |
| 2003 | England |
| 2004 | Ireland |
| 2005 | Wales |
| 2006 | Ireland |
| 2007 | Ireland |
| 2008 | Wales |
| 2009 | Ireland |
| 2010-11 | Not achieved |
| 2012 | Wales |
[edit] See also
- Six Nations Wooden Spoon
- Grand Slam
- Six Nations Championship
- Tri Nations
- Pacific Tri-Nations
- Calcutta Cup
- Millennium Trophy
- England national rugby union team
- Ireland national rugby union team
- Scotland national rugby union team
- Wales national rugby union team
- Rugby union trophies and awards
[edit] Notes and references
[edit] External links
- "Triple Crown becomes tangiable (sic)", RugbyRugby.com, 25 January 2006
- Official Six Nations Site
- Link to image of Triple Crown Trophy
- Hamilton & Inches silver craftsmen create a Triple Crown Trophy
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
