2003 Six Nations Championship

2003 Six Nations Championship
Date	15 February – 30 March 2003
Countries	England  France  Ireland  Italy  Scotland  Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	England (25th title)
Grand Slam	England (12th title)
Triple Crown	England (23rd title)
Calcutta Cup	England
Millennium Trophy	England
Centenary Quaich	Ireland
Matches played	15
Tries scored	74 (4.93 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Jonny Wilkinson (77)
Top try scorer(s)	Damien Traille (4)
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The 2003 Six Nations Championship was the fourth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, and the 109th international championship overall. The annual tournament was won by England, who completed a grand slam, and went on to win the 2003 Rugby World Cup later the same year. Italy won their first match with Wales (30-22), finishing in 5th place for the first time in the process.

This was the sixth time in the Championship's history, but the first time since it became the Six Nations, that two teams met in the final round with undefeated records, both England and Ireland having won their first four games, making the final match a decider for the Grand Slam. It was also the first time Ireland had been involved: and the first that was won by the away team. Wales were whitewashed, losing all five of their games, and earned themselves the wooden spoon as a result.

Participants[]

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham	London	Clive Woodward	Martin Johnson/Jonny Wilkinson
France	Stade de France	Paris	Bernard Laporte	Fabien Galthié/Fabien Pelous
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Eddie O'Sullivan	Brian O'Driscoll
Italy	Stadio Flaminio	Rome	John Kirwan	Alessandro Troncon
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Ian McGeechan	Bryan Redpath
Wales	Millennium Stadium	Cardiff	Steve Hansen	Colin Charvis/Martyn Williams

Squads[]

Table[]

Position	Nation	Games				Points				Table points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Tries
1	England	5	5	0	0	173	46	+127	18	10
2	Ireland	5	4	0	1	119	97	+22	10	8
3	France	5	3	0	2	153	75	+78	17	6
4	Scotland	5	2	0	3	81	161	−80	7	4
5	Italy	5	1	0	4	100	185	−85	12	2
6	Wales	5	0	0	5	82	144	−62	10	0

Results[]

Round 1[]

15 February 2003 13:30 GMT

Italy	30–22	Wales
Try: De Carli Festuccia Phillips Con: Dominguez (3) Pen: Dominguez (2) Drop: Dominguez	Report	Try: S. Williams Shanklin Peel Con: Harris (2) Pen: Harris

Stadio Flaminio, Rome Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Joël Jutge (France)

15 February 2003 16:00 GMT

England	25–17	France
Try: Robinson Con: Wilkinson Pen: Wilkinson (5) Drop: Wilkinson	Report	Try: Magne Poitrenaud Traille Con: Merceron

Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 73,500 Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand)

16 February 2003 15:00 GMT

Scotland	6–36	Ireland
Pen: Ross (2)	Report	Try: Hickie Murphy Humphreys Con: Humphreys (3) Pen: Humphreys (5)

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Attendance: 67,500 Referee: (Australia)

Round 2[]

22 February 2003 14:30 GMT

Italy	13–37	Ireland
Try: Dallan Con: Pez Pen: Dominguez Pez	Report	Try: Stringer Kelly Humphreys O'Driscoll Murphy Con: Humphreys (3) Pen: Humphreys (2)

Stadio Flaminio, Rome Attendance: 22,500 Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England)

22 February 2003 17:30 GMT

Wales	9–26	England
Pen: Sweeney (3)	Report	Try: Greenwood Worsley Con: Wilkinson (2) Pen: Wilkinson (2) Drop: Wilkinson (2)

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 69,727 Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)

23 February 2003 14:00 GMT

France	38–3	Scotland
Try: Pelous Poitrenaud Traille Rougerie Con: Gelez (3) Pen: Gelez (4)	Report	Pen: Paterson

Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 78,692 Referee: (Australia)

Round 3[]

8 March 2003 14:00 GMT

Ireland	15–12	France
Pen: Humphreys (4) Drop: Murphy	Report	Pen: Gelez (4)

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 47,500 Referee: André Watson (South Africa)

8 March 2003 16:00 GMT

Scotland	30–22	Wales
Try: Douglas Taylor Paterson Con: Paterson (3) Pen: Paterson (3)	Report	Try: Cooper Taylor R. Williams Con: S. Jones (2) Pen: S. Jones

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Attendance: 60,000 Referee: (Argentina)

• Referee Pablo De Luca was injured during the match and replaced by touch judge Tony Spreadbury at half-time.^[1]

9 March 2003 14:00 GMT

England	40–5	Italy
Try: Lewsey (2) Thompson Simpson-Daniel Tindall Luger Con: Wilkinson (4) Dawson	Report	Try: Mi. Bergamasco

Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 72,000 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Round 4[]

22 March 2003 14:00 GMT

Wales	24–25	Ireland
Try: S. Jones M. Williams Thomas Con: S. Jones (3) Drop: S. Jones	Report	Try: Gleeson (2) Pen: Humphreys (4) Drop: O'Gara

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 72,500 Referee: (England)

22 March 2003 16:00 GMT

England	40–9	Scotland
Try: Robinson (2) Cohen Lewsey Con: Wilkinson (3) Paul Grayson Pen: Wilkinson (4)	Report	Pen: Paterson (3)

Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 72,000 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)

23 March 2003 14:00 GMT

Italy	27–53	France
Try: Pez Mi. Bergamasco Persico Phillips Con: Pez (2) Pen: Pez	Report	Try: Traille (2) Rougerie (2) Betsen Michalak Castaignède Con: Yachvili (6) Pen: Yachvili (2)

Stadio Flaminio, Rome Attendance: 20,000 Referee: (Wales)

Round 5[]

29 March 2003 13:00 GMT

France	33–5	Wales
Try: Castaginède Clerc Michalak Con: Yachvili (3) Pen: Yachvili (4)	Report	Try: Thomas

Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 78,906 Referee: Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand)

29 March 2003 15:00 GMT

Scotland	33–25	Italy
Try: White McLaren Logan Paterson Con: Paterson (2) Pen: Paterson (3)	Report	Try: Mi. Bergamasco Pez Palmer Con: Pez (2) Pen: Pez (2)

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Attendance: 45,739 Referee: David McHugh (Ireland)

30 March 2003 14:00 BST

Ireland	6–42	England
Pen: Humphreys Drop: Humphreys	Report	Try: Greenwood (2) Dallaglio Tindall Luger Con: Wilkinson (3) Grayson Pen: Wilkinson Drop: Wilkinson (2)

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 47,900 Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)

Red carpet incident[]

The deciding game between Ireland and England was overshadowed by an incident in the pre-game ceremonies in which the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, had to walk on the grass instead of the red carpet to meet the Irish team. England had lined up on the left hand side when facing the tunnel, which was said to be Ireland's lucky side. When asked to move his team, England captain Martin Johnson refused, so Ireland lined up to the left of them, with no team now on the right hand side, leaving insufficient red carpet on that side. A day after the game the Irish Rugby Football Union sent a written apology to the president for the England team's failure to "follow established and communicated protocol", while the Rugby Football Union also sent her a "full and unreserved apology".^[2] Having dismissed it at the time as "a fuss about nothing", Johnson later explained ahead of meeting the president again in Ireland for the 2011 Championship that he had lined up on that side as it was customary to line up on the side you warmed up on, that he had no prior knowledge of the protocol, and his subsequent refusal to move was because the request came from some "random guy", rather than the match referee.^[3]

References[]