The 2009 Six Nations Championship, known as the RBS 6 Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 10th

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

, and the 115th international championship, an annual

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

competition contested by the six major European national teams:

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The tournament was held between 7 February and 21 March 2009. Ireland won the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

and

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

, only their second Grand Slam, and first since 1948, and first Triple Crown since 2007. It was Ireland's second Grand Slam in total. England finished as runners-up, and also won the

Calcutta Cup The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy contested be ...

. The tournament featured the first Friday night game in its history, played between France and Wales at the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

Summary

The tournament began on 7 February 2009, when England hosted Italy in the earlier of the day's two matches. Ireland played France later that evening, with Scotland versus Wales the following day. The reigning champions on entering the 2009 tournament were Wales, who won the Grand Slam and Triple Crown in 2008. The winners of both accolades in 2009 were Ireland, with

Ronan O'Gara Ronan John Ross O'Gara ( ga, Rónán Ó Gadhra; born 7 March 1977) is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach. O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland's second most-capped player and highest ever points scorer. He is currently ...

's dropped goal leaving the score in the final match against Wales in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

on 21 March at 17–15. Wales's Stephen Jones then missed a late penalty from just inside the Ireland half to leave Wales in fourth position. Ireland's two tries in that match came when captain

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster and for Ireland. He captained Ireland from 2003 until 2012, and captained the ...

and

Tommy Bowe Thomas John Bowe (born 22 February 1984) is an Irish former rugby union player from County Monaghan, Ireland. He played on the wing for Ulster, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions. In March 2012, after four years with Ospreys in Swansea, Wal ...

scored in quick succession in the 44th and 46th minutes respectively.

Paul O'Connell Paul Jeremiah O'Connell (born 20 October 1979) is an Irish former rugby union player and coach. When he stopped playing, he was Ireland's third most-capped player (108) and the eighteenth most-capped international player in rugby union histo ...

received the Triple Crown and Ireland's captain

lifted the trophy. It was Ireland's first Grand Slam since 1948, 61 years earlier. This was achieved in the first Six Nations Championship since

Declan Kidney Declan Kidney (born 20 October 1959) is an Irish rugby union coach. He was the head coach of the Ireland national rugby union team from 2008 to 2013, where he won the 2009 Six Nations with a Grand Slam, winning the 2009 IRB Coach of the Year aw ...

was appointed as manager of the Ireland team, succeeding

Eddie O'Sullivan Eddie O'Sullivan (born 21 November 1958) is an Irish rugby union coach, player (wing & fly-half) and a former Gaelic footballer. He is a former head coach of the United States national rugby union team and of the Ireland national rugby union ...

who resigned after the previous tournament. 2009 Six Nations Champions - Ireland

Twelve tries were scored by Ireland throughout the tournament, and five wins left the team on top of the table at the end of the Championship with ten points. They opened with a 30–21 win over France at home stadium

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

on 7 February. On 15 February, Ireland's second match was a 38–9 victory over Italy at the Stadio Flaminio in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. On 28 February, Ireland beat England 14–13 at Croke Park and on 14 March, Ireland beat Scotland 22–15 at

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...

. Then followed the Grand Slam against Wales on 21 March 2009. That game was attended by the

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can ...

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ga, Máire Pádraigín Mhic Ghiolla Íosa; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer and former politician who served as the eighth president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. She is an academic ...

, who presented the trophy, and

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Brian Cowen Brian Bernard Cowen (born 10 January 1960) is an Irish former politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011. Cowen was elected to Dáil Éireann in 1984, for the constituency of Laois–Offaly and served in a ...

. Following the game there were tributes from politicians including Brian Cowen,

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...

and Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen. A civic reception for the team took place outside Dublin's Mansion House on 22 March at 16:30, with 18,000 fans attending alongside Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Dublin's Deputy Lord Mayor Emer Costelloe. 2,000 fans had earlier greeted the team upon their arrival at

Dublin Airport Dublin Airport (Irish language, Irish: ''Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath'') is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland. It is operated by DAA (Irish company), DAA (formerly Dublin Airport Authority). The airport is located in Collinsto ...

. Brian O'Driscoll described 21 March as a "sweet, sweet day". The game was watched by 945,000 people in Ireland, the highest rating television programme in the country by that stage of 2009. Former coach Eddie O'Sullivan was said to be "delighted" for the team. Brian O'Driscoll was named player of the tournament, beating Italy's

Sergio Parisse Sergio Francesco Parisse (; born 12 September 1983) is an Italian rugby union player. He currently plays for French club Toulon and played for the Italy national team from 2002 until the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Parisse is Italy's most-capped player ...

and Ireland teammate Paul O'Connell. O'Connell was later named captain of the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

team to tour

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and containing fourteen members of the Grand Slam winning Irish team on 21 April 2009, describing it as "a great honour". Italy were the only side to not win a match in the tournament, suffering defeats by twenty points or more against, in addition to Ireland, France (50–8), England (36–11) and Scotland (26–6), while losing 20–15 to Wales. Scotland managed a solitary victory against Italy to finish on 2 points. England, France and Wales all managed to win three of their matches to finish level on six points but England's points difference of +54 granted them second place in the table. Their points tally was boosted by a 36–10 defeat of France and a 26–12 win against Scotland which sealed the

. Wales' early loss to France and narrow loss to Ireland in the last game of the tournament denied them a second consecutive championship. Although Wales needed to beat Ireland by more than 13 points to win the championship, they could have won the game and the

in the last minute of the tournament (as well as denying Ireland the Grand Slam) if Stephen Jones' 50-yard penalty kick had not fallen short.

Participants

The teams involved were:

Squads

Table

Note: The first tiebreaker is point difference from all matches, the second is tries scored. After these two tiebreakers the championship is shared.

Fixtures

The fixtures for the 2009 Six Nations were released on 17 April 2008. The France v Wales game on 27 February was the first Friday night game in the history of the championship, both under the Five and Six Nations format.

Round 1

---- ----

Round 2

---- ----

Round 3

---- ---- ''Ireland won the

Millennium Trophy The Millennium Trophy () is a rugby union award contested annually by England and Ireland as part of the Six Nations Championship. It was initiated in 1988 as part of Dublin's millennial celebrations. The trophy has the shape of a horned Viking ...

.''

Round 4

---- ''Ireland won their eighth successive

Centenary Quaich The Centenary Quaich (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Cuach nan Ceud Bliadhna''; Irish: ''Corn na Céad Bliain'') is an international rugby union award contested annually by Ireland and Scotland as part of the Six Nations Championship. A "Quaich" is a Gae ...

.'' ----

Round 5

''France won their third consecutive

Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy The Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy ( it, Trofeo Garibaldi; french: Trophée Garibaldi) is a rugby union trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Six Nations Championship match between France and Italy. The trophy, designed by former French internati ...

.'' ---- ''England won the 121st

.'' ---- ''Ireland claimed their first championship since 1985 and first

since 1948.''

Scorers

References

External links

2009 Six Nations Championship Coverage
at the Guardian

at ESPN
The official RBS 6 Nations website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Six Nations 2009 rugby union tournaments for national teams 2009 2008–09 in European rugby union 2008–09 in Irish rugby union 2008–09 in English rugby union 2008–09 in Welsh rugby union 2008–09 in Scottish rugby union 2008–09 in French rugby union 2008–09 in Italian rugby union February 2009 sports events in Europe March 2009 sports events in Europe Royal Bank of Scotland