Northern Ireland 2016. The six counties of Northern Ireland are among the nine governed by the Ulster branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union, the governing body of rugby union in Ireland. Ulster is one of the four professional provincial teams in Ireland and competes in the Pro14 and European Cup. It won the European Cup in 1999. In international competitions, the Ireland national rugby union team's recent successes include four Triple Crowns between 2004 and 2009 and a Grand Slam in 2009 in the Six Nations Championship. Northern Ireland plays as the Ireland cricket team which represents both Northern Ireland and
Grand Slam (rugby union) wins the Grand Slam will get three bonus points. This will eliminate the possibility of a Grand Slam winner losing the championship on bonus points. "* In 1908 and 1909 matches with France were played, although they were not part of the Championship." A Grand Slam tour is one in which a touring national team from , and plays Test matches against all four home nations (, , and ). If the tourists win all four of these games, they are said to have achieved a Grand Slam. Some Grand Slam tours made visits to play , and South Africa