Triple Crown (Rugby Union)

In the sport of rugby union, the Triple Crown is a title of honor to the every year the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales as part of the Six Nations tournament fight. If one of these teams manages to win all games against three competitors, it also wins the Triple Crown. The last time England achieved this in 2014. At the Six Nations tournament, France and Italy take part, but they are not involved in the race for the Triple Crown. A team that defeated all five opponents in the course of a tournament, scored a grand slam.

Name

The origin of the term Triple Crown is unclear. The Irish Times newspaper called him for the first time on 12 March 1894 in the introduction to the report on the match against Ireland Wales.

Maybe the name of the triple crown dates ( triple crown ) of King James I., who reigned as the first monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland ( Wales was then considered an integral part of England ). In Act 4, Scene 3 of the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare Macbeth James' "triple scepter " mentioned.

Trophy

In 1975, carved a retired miner named Dave Marrington with his penknife on a lump of coal from the Haig - mine in Cumbria and molds it into a work of art. It is a crown on a square base. On the four sides of the rose of England, the shamrock of Ireland, the thistle of Scotland and the feathers of the Prince of Wales can be seen. There have been efforts to present the work of art the Triple Crown winner, but all four associations rejected this. Today it is exhibited in the Museum of Rugby at Twickenham.

Also, more than thirty years later there was still no trophy for winning the Triple Crown, which is why this contest was often referred to as "invisible trophy ." But then there was the main sponsor of the Six Nations, the Royal Bank of Scotland, a trophy in order. As the " Triple Crown Trophy" called silver plate was presented in 2006 for the first time the Irish team.

List of Winners

With 24 Triple Crown England is the most successful. This is followed by Wales with 20, Scotland and Ireland with 10 successes.