As the countdown to the 2013 RBS 6 Nations grows louder, we will be going back in time and profiling past tournaments all the way up to last year.
RBS 6 Nations 2010 Champions: France Grand Slam: France (ninth) Millennium Trophy: Ireland Centenary Quaich: Scotland Garibaldi Trophy: France Top points scorer: Stephen Jones (Wales) 63 points Top try scorers: James Hook, Shane Willams (both Wales), Keith Earls, Tommy Bowe (both Ireland) three
Inspired by the bull-dozing Mathieu Bastareaud, France got their hands on a ninth Grand Slam when securing the 2010 RBS 6 Nations title.
Bastareaud was in destructive form for France and despite a shaky performance against England, he outshone Brian O’Driscoll in the crunch match with Ireland and scored two tries in the 18-9 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield to put his side on their way to the Grand Slam.
Also in the first weekend, holders Ireland began solidly enough, chalking up a 29-11 victory over Italy at Croke Park, thanks to tries from Jamie Heaslip and Tomas O’Leary.
And England, wearing a special kit to celebrate the centenary of the first international match between England and Wales at Twickenham, came through against the Red Dragons 30-17 at Twickenham with James Haskell grabbing two tries.
The following week, Wales got back to winning ways in the most dramatic of fashions, squeezing past Scotland 31-24 in Cardiff, coming back from 0-10, 3-15 and 9-21 down.
In what proved to be Thom Evans’ last-ever game due to a horror neck injury, Chris Paterson saw his streak of 35 consecutive kicks in the RBS 6 Nations come to an end.
The drama unfolded when Leigh Halfpenny’s 77th-minute try pulled Wales to within three before Stephen Jones levelled things up with a penalty at 24-24 with just a minute to go.
When kicking off, Scotland, down to 13 men, opted against kicking the ball out and were duly punished when Shane Williams touched down in injury time.
Elsewhere, France romped past Ireland 33-10, ending the Men in Green’s hopes of a second consecutive Grand Slam, with three tries and a fine kicking performance from Morgan Parra.
While Jonny Wilkinson kicked England to victory in Rome with a little help from Mathew Tait, who scored the only try of the game in a 17-12 win.
Wales then attempted another escape act at home to France but just fell short, despite trailing 20-0 to Les Bleus – Williams scored in the 79th minute but a Parra penalty just before ensured the visitors ran out 26-20 winners.
Italy chalked up a morale-boosting win over Scotland 16-12, thanks in the main to Pablo Canavosio’s second-half try, before Tommy Bowe’s 75th-minute try handed Ireland a stunning 20-16 win over England at Twickenham as John Hayes became the first Irishman to reach 100 caps.
In gameweek four, Keith Earls continued to add to his burgeoning reputation with two tries in a 27-12 win over Wales in Dublin. England and Scotland could not be separated at Murrayfield with Dan Parks kicking all of the hosts’ points and Wilkinson and Toby Flood sharing the visitors’ for a 15-15 draw.
And France ran in six tries, including two from David Marty, to thump Italy 46-20 to close in on the Grand Slam.
In the final week, Williams bagged another score to ensure he shared the top try-scoring honour with Bowe, Earls and the impressive James Hook, who picked up two in the 33-10 win over Italy.
And when Johnnie Beattie – one third of Scotland’s Killer Bs back row alongside John Barclay and Kelly Brown – helped Scotland to a 23-20 win in Dublin, Ireland could no longer catch France and the title belonged to Marc Lievremont’s side.
And they celebrated in style, edging past England in a nail-biting 12-10 victory in Paris in which Ben Foden scored the only try but three penalties from Parra and a drop goal from Francois Trinh-Duc handed his side the win.
