2009 Six Nations Championship their arrival at Dublin Airport. Brian O'Driscoll described 21 March as a “sweet, sweet day”. The game was watched by 945,000 people in Ireland, the highest rating television programme in the country by that stage of 2009. Former coach Eddie O'Sullivan was said to be "delighted" for the team. Brian O'Driscoll was named player of the tournament, beating Italy's Sergio Parisse and Ireland teammate Paul O'Connell. O'Connell was later named captain of the British and Irish Lions team to tour South Africa and containing fourteen members of the Grand Slam winning Irish team on 21 April 2009, describing it as
Explorers Grand Slam complete a "True Explorers Grand Slam". In June 2018, Zhang Liang became the second person to complete this kind of Grand Slam. In 2011, former Wales rugby union international Richard Parks became the first person ever to complete the (Last Degrees) Grand Slam within a single calendar year, doing so within seven months. Cheryl Bart is the first Australian female and the 31st person worldwide to complete the Explorer's Grand Slam. She completed the North Pole on 22 April 2013 AEST. Vanessa O'Brien became the first woman to complete the (Last Degree) Grand Slam under a single calendar year, doing