In rugby union, the Triple Crown (Irish: An Choróin Triarach; Welsh: Y Goron Driphlyg) 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 Triple Crown was an informal recognition of success until the 2006 Six Nations, when a physical Triple Crown Trophy was awarded to Ireland.
The Six Nations Championship also involves France and Italy, but they do not take part in 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 1893 series of the original rugby union Home Nations Championship.
Contents |
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, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Like the modern Grand Slam, the Triple Crown was an informal honour to the team that went undefeated to win the Championship.
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, the twelfth running of the Home Nations Championship:
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!
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 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.[1] Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll claimed the trophy for Ireland at Twickenham on 18 March after a last-minute try from Shane Horgan gave Ireland a 28-24 win over England.
There has been a Triple Crown winner in 62 of the 116 competitions held from 1883 through 2011 (12 competitions cancelled due to world wars).
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 | 19 | 1893, 1900, 1902, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1950, 1952, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1988, 2005, 2008 |
| 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 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
