England chase Grand Slam glory

At 5pm on Sunday, England will step out on to the turf of the Aviva Stadium in pursuit of the RBS Six Nations crown and a thirteen Grand Slam.  England’s rugby has been underwhelming to say the least, since the golden days of World Cup triumph in 2003, but in this year’s Six Nations Martin Johnson’s side have once again showed that they are big-game players.

The Grand Slam was more of a hope than an expectation going in to the tournament, England having failed to win the tournament since 2003, incidentally via a Grand Slam.  Now, having dispatched of pre-tournament favourites Scotland and second-place Wales, a diminished Ireland side is all that stands in the way of a perfect World Cup warm-up for the men in white.  In fact, England could end Sunday with four trophies.  Having retained the Calcutta Cup by beating Scotland last weekend, The Millenium Trophy and Triple Crown trophy are up for grabs, for beating Ireland and completing a clean sweep of all the Home Nations respectively, along with the Six Nations trophy itself.

Yet it is the Grand Slam that England will covet the most.  The last three winners of the Six Nations have done so with a Slam, France the most recent in 2010.  With the World Cup set to commence on 9^th September this year, and England’s campaign beginning against Argentina the following day, the 2003 winners will want to enter rugby’s biggest contest knowing that, in Europe at least, they are unsurpassed.

Not the mention that England are not guarateed to win the Six Nations yet.  A heavy defeat to Ireland coupled with a convincing Wales win in France later on could see the men in red snatch the title from England, a prospect made slightly more feasible by France’s shock defeat to underdogs Italy last week, their first loss to the Azzurri in Six Nations history.

England have tended to save their best performances for the big occasions in recent years. Tipped by most to have a muted World Cup in 2007 as reigning champions, they finished second in their group after losing 36-0 to South Africa, leaving them drawn against Australia in the last eight and facing a semi-final against New Zealand or France should they win that.  And they did.  Edging past Australia 12-10 and defeating France 14-9, England were denied a second consecutive World Cup triumph by the unerring boot of Percy Montgomery, as South Africa defeated England for the second time in the tournament, 15-6 in the Final.

All this was on the back of a 2007 Six Nations campaign where England finished 3rd, losing to Ireland and Wales.  With the current squad boasting even greater talent, World Cup glory may beckon for England this year, echoing the class of ’03, who followed their Grand Slam by lifting the Webb Ellis Cup.  Maybe history is about to repeat itself.