ENGLAND'S GRAND SLAMS [or lack of them!]
By Gary Watton
April 14 2013
After the recent debacle in Wales, let's survey, painful though it is,all the past Grand Slam final hurdles to see if there is any particular theme or reason why England have been coming up short at the last obstacle.
Well, maybe I am stating the obvious, but when England have failed in 2013, 2011, 2001, 2000, 1999, and 1990 to finish off a Grand Slam, there was one common thread: each and every one of those six matches was away to one of our Celtic neighbours.
Perhaps this suggests that such nations find an extra gear when an English Grand Slam prize is in sight, and they delight in whipping it away. Maybe.
However, I suspect that what has happened is that of the three/four successful matches leading up to the big finale, England have already had two or three home matches at Twickenham.I would venture to state that by winning two or three home matches and not yet playing the final away match against difficult opposition, England all too often go into the final round of matches with an inflated sense of how good they are.
To be fair to the team, it is not their fault if they have won at home and against Italy. It is after all what they are chosen to do! Instead, it's our awful media which frequently takes an all-or-nothing view of our national teams. If England have four wins under their belts, then it's another tedious case of 'England expects'.
Apart from in Dublin in 2003 and in Edinburgh in 1980, England do not succeed at the final hurdle if it's away from Twickers. The post-war triumphs of 1957, 1991, 1992, and 1995 all confirm this and the near-misses of the last fourteen years only serves to confirm this.
Therefore, in conclusion, when England reach the fifth match and are still en route for an elusive Grand Slam, the decisive encounter would need to be taking place in south-west London, or the English faithful will again have cause to fear the worst!
England after all have never lost at home in a Grand Slam decider in recent memory.
***(the author can be pursued at http://gw930.blog.com)***
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I consider the summer tours, AI's and World Cups of greater importance.
What may be the pinnacle in the Celts calendar isn't mine I'm afraid and its as simple as that, I suppose that makes me arrogant in their book .............. ho hum!
But the 6 Nations is a yardstick to measure progress and this year to be fair we didn't do enough!!!!!