The Welsh team that won the Grand Slam

The 2008 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2008 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the ninth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 114th series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Fifteen matches were played over five weekends from 2 February to 15 March, resulting in Wales winning the Grand Slam, their second in the last four championships and tenth overall. In winning the Grand Slam, Wales also won the Triple Crown for beating each of the other Home Nations for the nineteenth time. Wales also conceded only two tries in the championship, beating England's previous record of four tries conceded. Wales' Shane Williams was named as the RBS Player of the Championship.^[1]

[edit] Participants

For the second year running, Ireland play their home games at Croke Park, while Lansdowne Road is being redeveloped.

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham	London	Brian Ashton	Phil Vickery
France	Stade de France	Paris	Marc Lièvremont	Lionel Nallet
Ireland	Croke Park[2]	Dublin	Eddie O'Sullivan	Brian O'Driscoll[3]
Italy	Stadio Flaminio	Rome	Nick Mallett	Sergio Parisse
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Frank Hadden	Jason White[4]
Wales	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Warren Gatland	Ryan Jones

[edit] Squads

[edit] Table

Position	Nation	Games				Points				Table points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Tries
1	Wales	5	5	0	0	148	66	+82	13	10
2	England	5	3	0	2	108	83	+25	8	6
3	France	5	3	0	2	103	93	+10	11	6
4	Ireland	5	2	0	3	93	99	−6	9	4
5	Scotland	5	1	0	4	69	123	−54	3	2
6	Italy	5	1	0	4	74	131	−57	6	2

[edit] Results

[edit] Week 1

2 February 2008 14:00 GMT	Ireland	16 – 11	Italy	Croke Park, Dublin Attendance: 75,387 Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
	Try: Dempsey 18' c Con: O'Gara Pen: O'Gara (3/4) 12', 57', 66'	(Report)	Try: Castrogiovanni 60' m Pen: Bortolussi (2/3) 38', 70'

• Although Italy's try was credited to Sergio Parisse during the game, he later stated that it had in fact been scored by Martin Castrogiovanni.^[5]

2 February 2008 16:30 GMT	England	19 – 26	Wales	Twickenham, London Attendance: 82,000 Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
	Try: Flood 23' c Con: Wilkinson Pen: Wilkinson (3/4) 1', 11', 45' Drop: Wilkinson (1/1) 17'	(Report)	Tries: Byrne 67' c Phillips 70' c Con: Hook (2) Pen: Hook (4/4) 4', 34', 57', 63'

• This win was Wales' first over England at Twickenham for twenty years.

3 February 2008 15:00 GMT	Scotland	6 – 27	France	Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 67,800 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)[6]
	Pen: Parks (1/2) 30' Drop: Parks (1/2) 4'	(Report)	Tries: Clerc 12' c, 65' c Malzieu 23' c Con: Élissalde (2) Skrela Pen: Traille (2/2) 18', 55'

[edit] Week 2

9 February 2008 14:00 GMT	Wales	30 – 15	Scotland	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 74,576 Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
	Tries: S. Williams 13' c, 68' c Hook 46' c Con: Hook (2) S. Jones Pen: Hook (1/1) 28' S. Jones (2/2) 63', 71'	(Report)	Pen: Paterson (5/5) 10', 32', 42', 50', 55

9 February 2008 16:00 GMT	France	26 – 21	Ireland	Stade de France, Paris Attendance: 76,500 Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
	Tries: Clerc 14' c, 18' m, 35' c Heymans 48' c Con: Élissalde (3)	(Report)	Tries: Penalty try 55' c D. Wallace 59' m Con: O'Gara Pen: O'Gara (3/3) 17', 28', 74'

10 February 2008 14:30 GMT	Italy	19 – 23	England	Stadio Flaminio, Rome Attendance: 30,625 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
	Try: Picone 76' c Con: Bortolussi Pen: Bortolussi (4/4) 5', 11', 44', 54'	(Report)	Tries: Sackey 3' c Flood 15' c Con: Wilkinson (2) Pen: Wilkinson (3/4) 31', 37', 57'

• This is currently England's narrowest ever win over Italy

[edit] Week 3

23 February 2008 15:00 GMT	Wales	47 – 8	Italy	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 74,305 Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
	Tries: Byrne 28' c, 68' c Shanklin 42' c S. Williams 57' c, 74' c Con: S. Jones (3) Hook (2) Pen: S. Jones (4/4) 4', 11', 47', 50'	(Report)	Try: Castrogiovanni 12' m Pen: Marcato (1/2) 40+2'

23 February 2008 17:00 GMT	Ireland	34 – 13	Scotland	Croke Park, Dublin Attendance: 74,234 Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)
	Tries: D. Wallace 22' c Kearney 26' c Horan 41' m Bowe 62' c, 79' m Con: O'Gara (3) Pen: O'Gara (1/1) 50'	(Report)	Try: Webster 53' c Con: Paterson Pen: Paterson (2/2) 24', 31'

• Ireland win the Centenary Quaich.

23 February 2008 20:00 GMT	France	13 – 24	England	Stade de France, Paris Attendance: 79,593 Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
	Try: Nallet 24' c Con: Traille Pen: Parra (1/1) 49' Yachvili (1/1) 74'	(Report)	Tries: Sackey 5' c Wigglesworth 79' m Con: Wilkinson Pen: Wilkinson (3/5) 14', 29', 68' Drop: Wilkinson (1/2) 64'

• Jonny Wilkinson drew level with Wales' Neil Jenkins as the all-time leading point scorer in international rugby history. Including both men's points for the British and Irish Lions, the two have scored 1,090 career points.
• This result left Wales as the only remaining team that can win the Grand Slam.
• This was England's first Six Nations away win over France since the tournament started in 2000.

[edit] Week 4

8 March 2008 13:15 GMT	Ireland	12 – 16	Wales	Croke Park, Dublin Attendance: 75,000 Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
	Pen: O'Gara (4/4) 5', 19', 62', 68'	(Report)	Try: S. Williams 51' c Con: S. Jones Pen: S. Jones (2/4) 26', 46' Hook (1/1) 76'

• Shane Williams draws level with Gareth Thomas as the all-time try leader for Wales with his 40th try.
• Wales win the Triple Crown.

8 March 2008 15:15 GMT	Scotland	15 – 9	England	Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 67,987 Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
	Pen: Paterson (4/4) 9', 31', 40+2', 41' Parks (1/1) 48'	(Report)	Pen: Wilkinson (3/5) 27', 50', 53'

• England's Jonny Wilkinson becomes the all-time scoring leader in international rugby history, surpassing Wales' Neil Jenkins. Wilkinson's new record now stands at 1,099 points. This figure was reached due to a decision by the IRB to count the Lions' match against Argentina in 2005 as a Test match.
• Scotland win the Calcutta Cup.

9 March 2008 15:00 GMT	France	25 – 13	Italy	Stade de France, Paris Attendance: 79,000 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
	Tries: Floch 13' c Jauzion 53' m Rougerie 66' c Con: Yachvili (2) Pen: Yachvili (2/2) 27', 37'	(Report)	Try: Castrogiovanni 58' c Con: Marcato Pen: Marcato (2/2) 18', 31'

• France win their second consecutive Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy.

[edit] Week 5

15 March 2008 13:00 GMT	Italy	23 – 20	Scotland	Stadio Flaminio, Rome Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
	Tries: Penalty try 13' c Canale 59' c Con: Marcato (2) Drop: Marcato (1/1) 79' Pen: Marcato (2/4) 36', 68'	(Report)	Tries: Hogg 21' c Blair 40' c Con: Paterson (2) Pen: Parks (1/1) 25' Paterson (1/1) 72'

• Despite victory over the Scots, Italy win the "wooden spoon", having failed to win by the necessary five point margin required to avoid finishing at the bottom of the table.

15 March 2008 15:00 GMT	England	33 – 10	Ireland	Twickenham, London Attendance: 82,000 Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
	Tries: Sackey 19' c Tait 57' c Noon 69' c Con: Cipriani (3) Pen: Cipriani (4/4) 12', 30', 44', 73'	(Report)	Try: Kearney 4' c Con: O'Gara Pen: O'Gara (1/2) 7'

• England win the Millennium Trophy for the first time in 5 years.

15 March 2008 17:00 GMT	Wales	29 – 12	France	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 74,609 Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
	Tries: S. Williams 60' c M. Williams 77' c Con: S. Jones (2) Pen: Hook (3/5) 5', 18', 21' S. Jones (2/2) 63', 74'	(Report)	Pen: Élissalde (3/3) 19', 39', 46' Yachvili (1/1) 69'

• Shane Williams takes sole possession of the all-time try scoring lead for Wales with his 41st try.
• Wales win the Grand Slam and, in doing so, win their second Six Nations title in four championships.
• By virtue of Wales beating France by more than three points, England finished second in the table – their best Six Nations finish since 2003.

[edit] Scorers

Leading try scorers Tries Name Pld Team 6 Shane Williams 5  Wales 5 Vincent Clerc 5  France 3 Lee Byrne 5  Wales Martin Castrogiovanni 5  Italy Paul Sackey 5  England 2 Tommy Bowe 3 Ireland Toby Flood 5  England Robert Kearney 5 Ireland David Wallace 5 Ireland 1 Girvan Dempsey 2 Ireland Julien Malzieu 3  France Mike Blair 4  Scotland Cédric Heymans 4  France Allister Hogg 4  Scotland Simon Picone 4  Italy Simon Webster 4  Scotland Richard Wigglesworth 4  England Gonzalo Canale 5  Italy James Hook 5  Wales Mike Phillips 5  Wales Tom Shanklin 5  Wales Martyn Williams 5  Wales

Leading point scorers Points Name Pld Team 50 Jonny Wilkinson 5  England 48 Ronan O'Gara 5 Ireland 44 Stephen Jones 4  Wales James Hook 5  Wales

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

Rugby union portal

• The official RBS 6 Nations website

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