2009 Six Nations Championship in total. England finished as runners-up, and they also won the Calcutta Cup. The 2009 tournament featured the first Friday night game in its history, played between France and Wales at the Stade de France. The tournament began on 7 February 2009, when England hosted Italy in the earlier of the day's two matches. Ireland played France later that evening, with Scotland versus Wales the following day. The reigning champions on entering the 2009 tournament were Wales, who won the Grand Slam and Triple Crown in 2008. The winners of both accolades in 2009 were Ireland, with Ronan O'Gara's dropped
Grand Slam (rugby union) common again, as the number of Tests on each tour has again increased. The All Blacks' tours of 2005 and 2008 were originally planned to include only three Test matches; the late inclusion of matches against Wales and England respectively turned these into Grand Slam tours. Grand Slam (rugby union) In rugby union, a Grand Slam (Irish: "Caithréim Mhór". Welsh: "Y Gamp Lawn". French: "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 39 times in total, for the