Slam defences

Having taken 4 wins from 4, a lot of the chat about England is whether they can become the first Six Nations team to do back-to-back Grand Slams. I thought it might be worth looking at how previous defences have gone, as none have been successful.

After France took the first Six Nations Slam in 2002, what followed were 3 further slams in 3 further seasons, with England winning in 2003, France again in 2004 and Wales in 2005.

In 2003, France lost the first game of their defence against England at Twickenham and lost a further game to Ireland in Week 3.
In 2004, England's defence got off to a fine start in Italy, but lost to Ireland at home in Week 3. England had a shot at the Championship going into the last week, but lost to the Grand Slamming French in Paris.
In 2005, France opened up with tight wins over Scotland and England, before losing to Wales in Week 3. France finished on 4 wins, but that wasn't enough to take the Championship.
In 2006, Wales got thrashed in the first week by England before recovering to beat Scotland in Week 2. However, further losses were at hand to Ireland and France, sandwiching a home draw against Italy - Wales finished on 3 points, the worst total for a Grand Slam winner on their defence. France won the Championship with no Slam.

However in 2008, Wales won the Grand Slam again, and this was followed by Slams for Ireland and France in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

In 2009, Wales got off to a good start with wins against Scotland and England, but lost out to France in Week 3 to end their hopes of back to back slams. Wales finished 4th on points difference after losing to Ireland, despite winning 3 games.
In 2010, Ireland's Week 1 win against Italy was followed up with a loss to France in Week 2. Ireland also lost to Scotland in Week 5, but still finished second.
In 2011, France beat Scotland and Ireland in the first two weeks before losing to England in Week 3 and surprisingly Italy in Week 4. France won 3 and finished second.

The next Grand Slam, and only since England's last year, was Wales in 2012.

In 2013, Wales became the first Grand Slam winner to follow up with a Championship win, despite an opening day loss at home to Ireland. Wales won the remaining 4 and clinched the title on points difference, beating England in the last weekend.

Summary
No-one has won back to back Slams.
Wales were the only team to back up a Slam with a Championship, until England clinched the Championship today.
Only on one other occasion did a team back up a Slam with 4 wins - France in 2005.
Before this year, no defending Grand Slammer had made it to 3 wins in a row. Week 1 was the deathbed 3 times, Week 2 once and Week 3 on the other 5 occasions.
The teams to end another team's hope of retaining a Slam the most times are Ireland and England, both with 3. France have done it twice, and Wales have done it once.

So the sensible money is on Ireland

TightHEAD wrote:So the sensible money is on Ireland

Not necessarily. No team has followed up a slam with 4 wins and then failed to win the 5th game. Unchartered territory.

Records, records, records.

There to be broken.