Triple Crown (rugby union)

The origins of the name Triple Crown are uncertain. The concept 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 a team that won the Championship with straight victories.

The first use cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is from Whitaker's Almanack, 1900 (referring to the 1899 tournament): "In their last match at Cardiff against Wales, Ireland won by a try to nothing, securing the triple crown with three straight victories as in 1894." The Irish victory in 1894 was reported as a Triple Crown by The Irish Times at the time and is possibly the first time the phrase was seen in print.^[1]

The phrase Triple Crown is also used in a number of other sports.

Until 2006, no actual trophy was awarded to the winner of the Triple Crown, hence it was sometimes referred to as the "invisible cup". Dave Merrington, a retired miner from South Hetton, County Durham, fashioned an aspiring trophy in 1975 from a lump of coal hewn from the Haig Colliery in Cumbria. This has a crown sitting on a four-sided base on which are represented a rose, a shamrock, a thistle and the Prince of Wales's feathers. It is kept in the Museum of Rugby at Twickenham.

For the 2006 Six Nations, the Royal Bank of Scotland (the primary sponsor of the competition) commissioned Edinburgh and London based Hamilton & Inches to design and create a dedicated Triple Crown Trophy. This has been awarded to Triple Crown winning sides since 2006. It has been won seven times by Ireland, four times by Wales and three times by England.

There has been a Triple Crown winner in 73 of the 130 competitions held from 1883 through to 2026 (twelve years of competition were not played due to the two World Wars). The 2026 campaign was the most recent edition when a triple crown was awarded, with Ireland claiming the honour for the fourth time in five years (2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026). The last Welsh Triple Crown was in 2021, the last English Triple Crown in 2020, and the last Scottish Triple Crown from 1990 during the Five Nations era of the Championship

Wales and England have both retained the Triple Crown for four consecutive years: Wales (1976–1979) and England (1995–1998). Scotland and Ireland have never won the Triple Crown for more than two successive Championships.

It is possible to win the Triple Crown without also winning that year's Championship. France and Italy may win either the tournament or Grand Slam while a home nation completes the Triple Crown and on rare occasions, it is possible for one home nation to win the Triple Crown, while another claims the Championship title (but not the Grand Slam). To date, the Triple Crown winners who failed to win the Championship are Wales in 1977, England in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2014, and Ireland in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2022, 2025 and 2026. The champions were France on each occasion, apart from 2014 when Ireland were Six Nations champions despite losing to Triple Crown winners England, the first instance of a team winning the Triple Crown but losing the overall title to another team eligible for it. The 2025 Championship was the first where the Triple Crown winner was neither first nor second in the Championship, with Ireland finishing below France and England.

Triple Crown winners who succeeded only in sharing the Championship were England in 1954 (lost to France, shared the title with France and Wales) and 1960 (drew with France and shared the title with them), and Wales in 1988 (lost to France and shared the title with them). With the advent of game points, bonus points and points difference, sharing the Championship is no longer possible.

The following table shows the number of Triple Crown wins by each country, and the years and Championship formats in which they were achieved.

italics : did not win Championship; underlined: shared championship  : bold : won Grand Slam

More information Nation, Total Triple Crowns ...

Nation	Total Triple Crowns	Home Nations 1883-1910	Five Nations 1911-1928	Home Nations 1929-1946	Five Nations 1947-1999	Six Nations 2000-2026
England	26	1883, 1884, 1892	1913, 1914, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1928	1934, 1937	1954, 1957, 1960, 1980, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998	2002, 2003, 2014, 2016, 2020
Wales	22	1893, 1900, 1902, 1905, 1908, 1909	1911		1950, 1952, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1988	2005, 2008, 2012, 2019, 2021
Ireland	15	1894, 1899			1948, 1949, 1982, 1985	2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2026
Scotland	10	1891, 1895, 1901, 1903, 1907	1925	1933, 1938	1984, 1990

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The following table shows Triple Crown winners chronologically.

More information Year, Team ...

Year	Team	Notes
Home Nations Championship
1883	England	[a]
1884	England	[a]
1891	Scotland	[a]
1892	England	[a]
1893	Wales	[a]
1894	Ireland	[a]
1895	Scotland	[a]
1899	Ireland	[a]
1900	Wales	[a]
1901	Scotland	[a]
1902	Wales	[a]
1903	Scotland	[a]
1905	Wales	[a]
1907	Scotland	[a]
1908	Wales	[a]
1909	Wales	[a]
Five Nations Championship
1911	Wales	[b]
1913	England	[b]
1914	England	[b]
1915–19	Not held due to World War I
1921	England	[b]
1923	England	[b]
1924	England	[b]
1925	Scotland	[b]
1928	England	[b]
Home Nations Championship
1933	Scotland	[a]
1934	England	[a]
1937	England	[a]
1938	Scotland	[a]
1940–46	Not held due to World War II
Five Nations Championship
1948	Ireland	[b]
1949	Ireland	[a]
1950	Wales	[b]
1952	Wales	[b]
1954	England	[c]
1957	England	[b]
1960	England	[c]
1965	Wales	[a]
1969	Wales	[a]
1971	Wales	[b]
1976	Wales	[b]
1977	Wales	[d]
1978	Wales	[b]
1979	Wales	[a]
1980	England	[b]
1982	Ireland	[a]
1984	Scotland	[b]
1985	Ireland	[a]
1988	Wales	[c]
1990	Scotland	[b]
1991	England	[b]
1992	England	[b]
1995	England	[b]
1996	England	[a]
1997	England	[d]
1998	England	[d]
Six Nations Championship
2002	England	[d]
2003	England	[b]
2004	Ireland	[d]
2005	Wales	[b]
2006	Ireland	[e]
2007	Ireland	[e]
2008	Wales	[b]
2009	Ireland	[b]
2012	Wales	[b]
2014	England	[f]
2016	England	[b]
2018	Ireland	[b]
2019	Wales	[b]
2020	England	[a]
2021	Wales	[a]
2022	Ireland	[d]
2023	Ireland	[b]
2025	Ireland	[e]
2026	Ireland	[e]

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• Grand Slam
• Pacific Tri-Nations
• Rugby union trophies and awards
• Six Nations Wooden Spoon
• Tri Nations