History of the Ireland national rugby union team first official game in charge was against Canada at Thomond Park which Ireland won 55–0. Ireland won the 2009 Six Nations Championship and Grand Slam by beating Wales at the Millennium Stadium 15–17 on 21 March 2009, the decisive score coming from a dropped goal by Ronan O'Gara. It was the first time they had won the championship since 1985, and the first time they had won the Grand Slam since 1948. Ireland also became only the second team (after Wales in 2005) to win a Six Nations Grand Slam after playing more away games than at home. The Ireland
Grand Slam (rugby union) are awarded the Six Nations trophy (as tournament winners), but there is no special grand slam trophy – the Grand Slam is an informal honour recognizing a Championship-winning team which has won all their games. Although the term "grand slam" had long been in use in the game of contract bridge, the first time that the expression is known to have been applied to rugby union was in 1957, in a preview of a match between England and Scotland: The Grand Slam honour is applied retroactively to teams which won all of their matches in Five Nations tournaments before the