It's always exciting to delve back into history to realize how far we've come and never forget where we came from. And when it comes to Rugby, the Tournament is undeniably the oldest competition in the world. In the past, it was a 100% Anglo-Saxon affair, first between England and Scotland in 1871 with the victory of the XV du Chardon which launched the story.
Twelve years later, Ireland and Wales joined the party to form the Home Nations and we will have to wait a little longer to invite another country, which does not speak the same language: France. In 1910, France officially joined this group of countries after having played a few times independently against one or the other team.
A Tournament that does not bear its name
Unofficially, it is the birth certificate of the Five Nations Tournament. But not officially yet. “This notion of tournament, championship, ranking is a fairly contemporary notion, from around the 1950s,” explains Frédéric Humbert, Duty of Memory project manager – French Rugby Museum.
“At that time there was a desire not to make it a championship. We are still in a process where we are not talking about competition or tournaments. All this was born from bilateral confrontations. The historical relationship is between England and Scotland, then came Wales and Ireland. There is a stake on the Triple Crown and the Calcutta Cup, but no stake on the ranking. »
While clubs are used to crossing the Channel to compete sometimes in one country, sometimes in another, the major rugby nations only began to do so in the early 1900s.
“We have played the English since 1906, the Welsh since 1908, the Irish since 1909, the Scots since 1910,” recalls Frédéric Humbert. “For the French public, it will quickly become an event because we are at a time when rugby will become the number 1 sport. We have a spectacle of choice. »
France begins with the wooden spoon
In the press of the time, there was therefore no mention of a tournament or championship. Just “annual meetings”. Except that from 1910, these became systematic. And it is from 1910 that France will play the big Anglo-Saxon brothers in quick succession over a very short period of time, between January and March of each year. Little by little, the notion of a tournament will appear, pushed by media construction, but without the leaders really assuming this status.
England won the first edition of this new era which would be interrupted by the First World War before resuming in 1920. France was excluded between 1932 and 1939 and the Tournament would officially return with these five nations in 1947, with the return from France after 15 years of absence. From that moment on, the French would never leave it.
The first edition of this unofficial “Five Nations” will not be favorable to France which will emerge with the wooden spoon, beaten by all the teams.
-This first edition takes place over ten days at the very beginning of the year and marks the beginning of a principle which still continues today: France will host England and Ireland in even years, and Wales as well. than Scotland in odd years. Since 2000, with the addition of Italy, this alternation has been maintained in the Six Nations Tournament, with France also hosting Italy in even years.
First match between France and Wales, already…
Like 115 years later, it was the meeting between France and Wales which inaugurated this new era. Nobody is obviously professional, but everyone is passionate. In this team from Wales, we find craftsmen, a boilermaker, a carpenter, a joiner, electricians, a shipowner, hotel managers, police officers. Average height: 1.71m. Average weight: 86 kg. Average age: 26 years old.
For the French, it's an expedition departing from the Garde du Nord in Paris on Friday at 8:20 a.m. with packed lunches on the train, crossing by boat, then train to Swansea at midnight. The next day, they were beaten by the Welsh 49-14 in the rain which transformed the field into a real ice rink, in front of 12,000 spectators.
It's the same thing for their second match with for the very first time a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, this time at night, with an arrival on Friday evening and a match at 2:30 p.m. the next day, punctuated by a 27-0 defeat (7 attempts) on frozen ground. The French return home on Sunday. And to think that we are still complaining, 115 years later, about the pace now imposed by the Champions Cup with travel conditions clearly improved…
Almighty England
We will then have to wait until March 3 to see the third match of this pseudo tournament, the first of the two at home. The Parc des Princes Vélodrome welcomes England on a Thursday at 3:30 p.m. It has been four years since the two teams met (first friendly match at the same place on March 22, 1906, then four followed). This time, the French did not have to endure the fatigue of the trip, but nevertheless suffered a defeat, 3-11, in front of 8,000 spectators.
With one try scored against three conceded, France is satisfied not to have been “crushed” this time by one of these Anglo-Saxon teams who continue to hit them. France is approaching “the victory which would force the major newspapers across the Channel to finally take French footballers seriously”, writes the journalist from The Carin his report. It would be necessary to wait until 1922 for France to snatch a draw (11-11 at Twickenham) against the English and five more years for its first victory (3-0 at Colombes in 1927).
No miracle against Ireland
The last match of these very first annual meetings takes place on March 28, a Monday at 3 p.m., against an Ireland team already considered “very first class”. Here again, no miracle against a Home Nations team and a defeat, 3-8, in front of 10,000 people, at the end of a “nasty game” delivered by the brutal Irish. “This is the first time that our representatives have managed to force a national team from across the Channel to work hard to only painfully score two tries,” observes the journalist.
The following year, 1911, marked a turning point because it was the first time France managed to beat a Home Nations team, in this case Scotland (at Colombes on January 2 to open the series, 16-15). , thus avoiding the wooden spoon, a position that the Blues returned to in 1912 without interruption until the interruption due to the First World War. More accustomed to the bottom of the table than to its top during the first thirty years, it was necessary to wait until 1959 to finally celebrate the victory of France which would be followed by others in 1960 (with England), in 1961, in 1962 and in 1967, before achieving his first grand slam in 1968.
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