Grand Slam (rugby union)

For other uses, see Grand Slam.

In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship (or its Five Nations predecessor) beats all the others during one year's competition. This has been achieved 42 times in total, for the first time by Wales in 1908, and most recently by the Irish team in 2023. The team with the most Grand Slams is England with 13. It can also apply to the U20 and Women's Six Nations Championships.

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 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 Grand Slams

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. 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 recognising a Championship-winning team which has won all their games.

A Grand Slam was therefore available in a total of 97 seasons to date. Grand Slams have been achieved 42 times – 13 by England, 12 by Wales, 10 by France, 4 by Ireland and 3 by Scotland. (Italy, involved in the tournament since 2000, have yet to win a Grand Slam.)

Two 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 by Ireland in 2009 and 2023, by England in 2016, and by Wales in 2019.

Since 2017, the Six Nations Championship has used bonus points. A team that wins the Grand Slam will get three bonus points. This eliminates the possibility of a Grand Slam winner losing the championship on bonus points.

The introduction of bonus points has also led to the possibility of a team achieving a Super Grand Slam or Perfect Grand Slam of five bonus point wins. To date, no team has achieved this feat. A related concept is the Simple Grand Slam or Boring Grand Slam, where a team wins all five of their games without achieving a four try bonus in any of them. Wales achieved this feat in 2019.

Table of Grand Slam winners

Nation	Grand Slams	Grand Slam winning seasons
England	13	1913, 1914, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1957, 1980, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2003, 2016
Wales	12	1908, 1909, 1911, 1950, 1952, 1971, 1976, 1978, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2019
Frankreich	10	1968, 1977, 1981, 1987, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2022
Irland	4	1948, 2009, 2018, 2023
Scotland	3	1925, 1984, 1990
Italien	0

* In 1908 and 1910 matches with France were played, although they were not part of the Championship.

Chronological list of Grand Slam winners

Year	Team	Notes
Home Nations Championship
1908	Wales	*see note above
1909	Wales	*see note above
Five Nations Championship
1911	Wales	Also with the Triple Crown.
1913	England	Also with the Triple Crown.
1914	England	Already won the Triple Crown.
1915–19	No tournament due to World War I
1921	England	Already won the Triple Crown.
1923	England	Already won the Triple Crown.
1924	England	Also won the Triple Crown.
1925	Scotland	Also won the Triple Crown.
1928	England	Also won the Triple Crown.
1932–39	France was suspended from the Five Nations Championship
1940–46	No tournament due to World War II
1948	Irland	Also won the Triple Crown.
1950	Wales	Already won the Triple Crown.
1952	Wales	Already won the Triple Crown.
1957	England	Already won the Triple Crown.
1968	Frankreich
1971	Wales	Already won the Triple Crown.
1976	Wales	Already won the Triple Crown.
1977	Frankreich
1978	Wales	Already won the Triple Crown.
1980	England	Also won the Triple Crown.
1981	Frankreich
1984	Scotland	Already won the Triple Crown.
1987	Frankreich
1990	Scotland	Also won the Triple Crown.
1991	England	Already won the Triple Crown.
1992	England	Also won the Triple Crown.
1995	England	Also won the Triple Crown.
1997	Frankreich
1998	Frankreich
Six Nations Championship
2002	Frankreich
2003	England	Also won the Triple Crown.
2004	Frankreich
2005	Wales	Also won the Triple Crown.
2008	Wales	Already won the Triple Crown.
2009	Irland	Also won the Triple Crown.
2010	Frankreich
2012	Wales	Already won the Triple Crown.
2016	England	Already won the Triple Crown.
2018	Irland	Also won the Triple Crown.
2019	Wales	Also won the Triple Crown.
2022	Frankreich
2023	Irland	Also won the Triple Crown.

Grand Slam tours

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

Some Grand Slam tours also include a Test match against France; South Africa achieved a "Five Nations Grand Slam" in 1912–13 and 1951–52.

Grand Slams by touring teams have been achieved nine times: four times each by South Africa and New Zealand, and once by Australia.

Australia is the only country to have lost against all four home nations during a Grand Slam tour, on their 1957–58 tour. Australia also lost to France on that 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 again become quite common, as the number of Tests on each tour has increased. 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

Südafrika	1912–13, 1931–32, 1951–52, 1960–61
Neuseeland	1978, 2005, 2008, 2010
Australien	1984

Grand Slam tours

Year	Team	Ach­ieved	W–D–L	Scores
				England	Irland	Scotland	Wales
1905–06	Neuseeland	No	3–0–1	15–0	15–0	12–7	0–3
1906–07	Südafrika	No	2–1–1	3–3	15–12	0–6	11–0
1912–13	Südafrika	Yes	4–0–0	9–3	38–0	16–0	3–0
1927–28	Australien	No	2–0–2	11–18	5–3	8–10	18–8
1931–32	Südafrika	Yes	4–0–0	7–0	8–3	6–3	8–3
1935–36	Neuseeland	No	2–0–2	0–13	17–9	18–8	12–13
1939–40	Australien	Cancelled due to World War II
1947–48	Australien	No	3–0–1	11–0	16–3	16–7	0–6
1951–52	Südafrika	Yes	4–0–0	8–3	17–5	44–0	6–3
1953–54	Neuseeland	No	3–0–1	5–0	14–3	3–0	8–13
1957–58	Australien	No	0–0–4	6–9	6–9	8–12	3–9
1960–61	Südafrika	Yes	4–0–0	5–0	8–3	12–5	3–0
1963–64	Neuseeland	No	3–1–0	14–0	6–5	0–0	6–0
1966–67	Australien	No	2–0–2	23–11	8–15	5–11	14–11
1969–70	Südafrika	No	0–2–2	8–11	8–8	3–6	6–6
1972–73	Neuseeland	No	3–1–0	9–0	10–10	14–9	19–16
1975–76	Australien	No	1–0–3	6–23	20–10	3–10	3–28
1978	Neuseeland	Yes	4–0–0	16–6	10–6	18–9	13–12
1981–82	Australien	No	1–0–3	11–15	16–12	15–24	13–18
1984	Australien	Yes	4–0–0	19–3	16–9	37–12	28–9
1998	Südafrika	No	3–0–1	7–13	27–13	35–10	28–20
2004	Südafrika	No	2–0–2	16–32	12–17	45–10	38–36
2005	Neuseeland	Yes	4–0–0	23–19	45–7	29–10	41–3
2008	Neuseeland	Yes	4–0–0	32–6	22–3	32–6	29–9
2009	Australien	No	2–1–1	18–9	20–20	8–9	33–12
2010	Neuseeland	Yes	4–0–0	26–16	38–18	49–3	37–25
	Südafrika	No	3–0–1	21–11	23–21	17–21	29–25
2013	Australien	No	3–0–1	13–20	32–15	21–15	30–26
2016	Australien	No	2–0–2	21–37	24–27	23–22	32–8
2024	Australien	To be decided
Total		Yes 9–19 No	76–6–30	17–1–10	21–3–4	18–1–9	20–1–7

The Rugby Championship

Year	Team	Notes
Tri Nations Series
1996	Neuseeland
1997	Neuseeland
1998	Südafrika
2003	Neuseeland
2010	Neuseeland
The Rugby Championship
2012	Neuseeland
2013	Neuseeland
2015	Australien	Only played three games due to the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
2016	Neuseeland
2017	Neuseeland
2023	Neuseeland	Only played three games due to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Rugby Europe Championship

Year	Team	Notes
FIRA Tournament
1938	Frankreich
FIRA Nations Cup
1965–66	France A
1966–67	France A
1967–68	France A
1968–69	Rumänien
1969–70	France A
1970–71	France A
1971–72	France A
1972–73	France A
FIRA Trophy
1973–74	France A
1975–76	France A
1976–77	Rumänien
1977–78	France A
1978–79	France A
1979–80	France A
1980–81	Rumänien
1982–83	Rumänien
1983–84	France A
1984–85	France A
As two-year cycled championship
1986–87	France A	France won in 1986.
1988–89	France A	France won in 1989.
1991–92	France A	France won in 1991 and 1992.
European Nations Cup First Division
2001	Georgien
2002	Rumänien
As two-year cycled championship
2003–04	Portugal	Portugal won in 2003.
2007–08	Georgien	Georgia won in 2008.
2011–12	Georgien	Georgia won in 2011.
2013–14	Georgien	Georgia won in 2014.
2015–16	Georgien	Georgia won in 2015 and 2016.
Rugby Europe Championship
2018	Georgien
2019	Georgien
2020	Georgien
2021	Georgien

See also

• Six Nations Championship
• Triple Crown
• Six Nations Wooden Spoon
• Calcutta Cup

External links

• The Official Six Nations Site
• 2008 Six Nations Information and Tournament Guide
• BBC News article on past Grand Slam tours
• Pathe News coverage of 1924 England Grand Slam