Grand Slam (rugby Union)
In rugby union, a Grand Slam (Welsh: Y Gamp Lawn. French: Le Grand Chelem) occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship (or its Five Nations predecessor) manages to beat all the others during one year's competition. This has been achieved 37 times in total, for the first time by Wales in 1908, and most recently again by Wales in 2012. The team to have won the most Grand Slams is England with 12.
In another context, a Grand Slam tour refers to a touring side – South Africa, Australia or New Zealand – which plays fixtures against all four home nations (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) during their tour. If the tourists then win all of those matches, they are said to have achieved a Grand Slam. This has been done nine times, first by South Africa in 1912–13, and most recently by New Zealand in 2010.
Read more about Grand Slam (rugby Union): Five and Six Nations Championship, Grand Slam Tours
Famous quotes containing the words grand and/or slam:
“The most refined skills of color printing, the intricate techniques of wide-angle photography, provide us pictures of trivia bigger and more real than life. We forget that we see trivia and notice only that the reproduction is so good. Man fulfils his dream and by photographic magic produces a precise image of the Grand Canyon. The result is not that he adores nature or beauty the more. Instead he adores his camera—and himself.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“Loach: What happened to your nose, Gittes? Somebody slam a bedroom window on it?
J.J. Gittes: Nope, your wife got excited. She crossed her legs a little too quick.”
—Robert Towne (b. 1936)