2003 Six Nations Championship
| 2003 Six Nations Championship | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 15 February 2003 - 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) |
||
|
|||
The 2003 Six Nations Championship was the fourth series of the Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-ninth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The annual tournament was won by England, who completed a tournament 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 second time.
This was the sixth time in the Championship's overall history (after 1978, 1984, 1990, 1991 and 1995), but the first time since it became the Six Nations, that two teams met in the final week with undefeated records, both England and Ireland being on a 4-0 record and the final match being a decider for the Grand Slam (and in this case the Triple Crown as well). It was also the first such instance in which Ireland had been involved: and, unfortunately for them, the first such instance that was won by the team playing away from home. Wales were whitewashed, having lost all five of their games, and earned themselves the wooden spoon as a result.
Contents
Participants
The teams involved were:
Squads
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
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
Week 1
| 2003-02-15 13:30 GMT |
| Italy |
30 – 22 | Wales |
| Tries: de Carli Festuccia Phillips Con: Dominguez (3) Pen: Dominguez (2) Drop: Dominguez |
Report | Tries: Shanklin S. Williams Peel Con: Harris (2) Pen: Harris |
| Stadio Flaminio, Rome Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Joel Jutge (France) |
| 2003-02-15 16:00 GMT |
| England |
25 – 17 | France |
| Try: Robinson Con: Wilkinson Pen: Wilkinson (5) Drop: Wilkinson |
Report | Tries: Magne Poitrenaud Traille Con: Merceron |
| Twickenham, London Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand) |
| 2003-02-16 15:00 GMT |
| Scotland |
6 – 36 | Ireland |
| Pen: Ross (2) | Report | Tries: Hickie Murphy Humphreys Con: Humphreys (3) Pen: Humphreys (5) |
| Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: Andrew Cole (Australia) |
Week 2
| 2003-02-22 14:30 GMT |
| Italy |
13 – 37 | Ireland |
| Try: Dallan Con: Pez Pen: Dominguez Pez |
Report | Tries: Stringer O'Driscoll Kelly Humphreys Murphy Con: Humphreys (3) Pen: Humphreys (2) |
| Stadio Flaminio, Rome Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England) |
| 2003-02-22 17:30 GMT |
| Wales |
9 – 26 | England |
| Pen: Ceri Sweeney (3) | Report | Tries: Greenwood Worsley Con: Wilkinson (2) Pen: Wilkinson (2) Drop: Wilkinson (2) |
| Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand) |
| 2003-02-23 14:00 GMT |
| France |
38 – 3 | Scotland |
| Tries: Pelous Poitrenaud Traille Rougerie Con: Gelez (3) Pen: Gelez (4) |
Report | Pen: Paterson |
| Stade de France, Saint-Denis Referee: Peter Marshall (Australia) |
Week 3
| 2003-03-08 14:00 GMT |
| Ireland |
15 – 12 | France |
| Pen: Humphreys (4) Drop: Murphy |
Report | Pen: Gelez (4) |
| Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: Andre Watson (South Africa) |
| 2003-03-08 16:00 GMT |
| Scotland |
30 – 22 | Wales |
| Tries: Douglas Taylor Paterson Con: Paterson (3) Pen: Paterson (3) |
Report | Tries: Cooper Taylor R. Williams Con: S. Jones (2) Pen: S. Jones |
| Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: Pablo Deluca (Argentina) |
| 2003-03-09 14:00 GMT |
| England |
40 – 5 | Italy |
| Tries: Lewsey (2) Thompson Simpson-Daniel Tindall Luger Con: Wilkinson (4) Dawson |
Report | Try: Mi. Bergamasco |
| Twickenham, London Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland) |
Week 4
| 2003-03-22 14:00 GMT |
| Wales |
24 – 25 | Ireland |
| Tries: S. Jones M. Williams Thomas Con: S. Jones (3) Drop: S. Jones |
Report | Tries: Gleeson (2) Pen: Humphreys (4) Drop: O'Gara |
| Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Referee: Steve Lander (England) |
| 2003-03-22 16:00 GMT |
| England |
40 – 9 | Scotland |
| Tries: Robinson (2) Cohen Lewsey Con: Wilkinson (3) Paul Grayson Pen: Wilkinson (4) |
Report | Pen: Paterson (3) |
| Twickenham, London Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland) |
| 2003-03-23 14:00 GMT |
| Italy |
27 – 53 | France |
| Tries: Pez Mi. Bergamasco Persico Phillips Con: Pez (2) Pen: Pez |
Report | Tries: Traille (2) Rougerie (2) Betsen Michalak Castaignède Con: Yachvili (6) Pen: Yachvili (2) |
| Stadio Flaminio, Rome Referee: Nigel Williams (Wales) |
Week 5
| 2003-03-29 13:00 GMT |
| France |
33 – 5 | Wales |
| Tries: Castaginède Clerc Michalak Con: Yachvili (3) Pen: Yachvili (4) |
Report | Try: Gareth Thomas |
| Stade de France, Saint-Denis Referee: Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand) |
| 2003-03-29 15:00 GMT |
| Scotland |
33 – 25 | Italy |
| Tries: White McLaren Logan Paterson Con: Paterson (2) Pen: Paterson (3) |
Report | Tries: Mi. Bergamasco Pez Palmer Con: Pez (2) Pen: Pez (2) |
| Murrayfield, Edinburgh |
| 2003-03-30 14:00 GMT |
| Ireland |
6 – 42 | England |
| Pen: Humphreys (2) | Report | Tries: Greenwood (2) Dallaglio Tindall Luger Con: Wilkinson (3) Grayson Pen: Wilkinson Drop: Wilkinson (2) |
| Lansdowne Road, Dublin |
Red carpet incident
The deciding game between Ireland and England was overshadowed by an incident in the pre-game ceremonies in which the Irish President 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 their English counterparts the Rugby Football Union also sent her a "full and unreserved apology".[1] 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.[2]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Six Nations - Official website
- 2003 Six Nations Championship Coverage at the Guardian
- 2003 Six Nations Championship Coverage at ESPN
