What Is the Triple Crown in Rugby?

Rugby’s annual Triple Crown goes hand in hand with the Grand Slam, but we have more detailed information on that achievement elsewhere. The Triple Crown, as the name suggests, involves three wins. Rugby union’s Triple Crown games are contested every year by the so-called Home Nations, in other words England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

All four play each other as part of the Six Nations which also includes games against France and Italy. Should one Home Nation beat the other three, they are considered to have won the Triple Crown.

How the Triple Crown Works

The Six Nations Championship essentially hosts the unofficial Triple Crown. Italy and France take part but are not involved at all in the Triple Crown. In a rare occurrence, the Triple Crown winners may not even go on to win the Six Nations, let alone the Grand Slam. This still brings some bragging rights, of course. Much like in horse racing (see below), teams have been winning the Triple Crown before it was even known as such. England beat all three local rivals first in 1883, running all the way through to Ireland who won the Triple Crown in the 2025 Six Nations, though themselves and England lost out to France for the overall title.

Though the Triple Crown isn’t in effect an official tournament win, there is a trophy to be won. Triple Crown winners in fact have been handed a trophy since 2006. Should England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales beat all of their three rivals, they are Triple Crown champs. It’s that simple. Naturally, winning the Grand Slam means also winning the Triple Crown. Conversely, you can win the Triple Crown without winning the Slam or even the Six Nations at all, as with Ireland in 2025.

Triple Crown History

Before the trophy, awarded since 2006, the Triple Crown within the Home Nations was often referred to cheekily as the “invisible cup”. The cup now awarded has some real significance to the achievement. A retired miner from County Durham, Dave Merrington, designed a hitherto unofficial trophy back in 1975. He made this from a lump of coal taken from a colliery in Cumbria. The item has a crown sitting atop a four-sided base featuring a rose, a shamrock, a thistle and the Prince of Wales’s feathers representing all four nations.

These days, that trophy is kept within Twickenham’s Museum of Rugby. Since 2006, a new trophy has been made available to Triple Crown winners. The current trophy was commissioned by Six Nations sponsor RBS.

What’s in a Name?

As with most uses of the term ‘Triple Crown’, the origins of the name within rugby is far from certain. Previously, the Home Nations Championship featured only England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and therefore winning all three games led to a ‘Triple Crown’. This was simply an unofficial honour to any winner of all three games, similar to the Grand Slam now achieved when winning all five games of a Six Nations tournament.

The term “Triple Crown” was noted in a 1900 Almanack in reference to the 1899 Home Nations Championship. Even this, however, is disputed. Triple Crown is also a popular term in other sports, most notably in horse racing. Horse racing’s Triple Crown in England is the most difficult to win and is rarely even attempted. The last male winner in fact was Nijinsky all the way back in 1970, while Oh So Sharp was the last fillies’ Triple Crown winner in 1985.

That series involves three-year-old horses having to win the 1000/2000 Guineas over a mile in May, the Oaks or Derby over 1½ miles in June and then the 1¾-mile St Leger in September. In the USA, the Triple Crown is particularly coveted and attempted by multiple horses each year. Winning the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes is still very difficult however and has been managed by only 13 horses spanning 1919 to 2018.

Rugby’s Triple Crown Winners

England and Wales each have the distinction of having won the Triple Crown in four consecutive years. England between 1995 and 1998, Wales from 1976 to 1979. Scotland and Wales have each won the Triple Crown in two successive years but no more. When contesting the modern Six Nations, the goal is simply to win the tournament, that’s the main achievement. Winning the Grand Slam is a terrific bonus, while winning the Triple Crown but not the tournament is considered a good consolation.