LONG READ 25 Six Nations Memorable Moments: 5 to 1

As this year’s men’s Six Nations enters the home straight, RugbyPass has highlighted some of the championship’s most iconic and outlandish moments, 25 years after the old Five Nations became Six. With contributions from Owain Jones (OJ), Jamie Lyall (JL), Bryn Palmer (BP), Neil Squires (NS) and Pat McCarry (PM), here are our final five.

5. ‘That’ Finn Russell miracle pass as Scotland end 10-year wait to beat England – 2018

You can’t talk Calcutta Cup without talking about ‘The Pass’. Finn Russell’s glorious, swooping parabola which defines an entire era of Scottish rugby, a time when ambition and derring-do became the Caledonian way.

Scotland had not beaten England in a decade and were mortified after a powderpuff effort at Twickenham the year before. Their 61-21 hosing broke records and torpedoed 2017 Lions dreams for numerous hopefuls. “We were rubbish,” was John Barclay’s blunt assessment.

Huw Jones was particularly culpable that day. Jonathan Joseph sauntered through limp midfield defence and you fancy Jones’ Lions aspirations were most severely dented in Warren Gatland’s eyes. How he hit back. Playing in a wonderfully balanced home backline, Jones stole the show.

He stampeded through England’s defence for two fabulous tries and it was he, of course, who steamed on to Russell’s soaring pass after 30 minutes at the edge of his own 22. Nobody else inside Murrayfield saw that pass. Not the tens of thousands who collectively groaned then inhaled in horror as it hovered tantalisingly above Joseph’s head. Not Barclay, who shouted ‘no!’ as Russell drew back his arms. And certainly not a dog-legged English defence, penetrated by Jones’ bust and, a few phases later, Sean Maitland’s finish in the opposite corner. This was Russell in microcosm.

He and Greig Laidlaw were filmed in a popular Edinburgh venue several sheets to the wind later that night, embracing and roaring ‘Flower of Scotland’ as Laidlaw ripped the buttons off his dress shirt with a tie around his forehead. No one begrudged them the celebration. (JL)

4. Wales paint the town red with first Grand Slam in 27 years – 2005

Days after an estimated 30,000 fans traipsed up to a dreich Murrayfield to witness a record 46-22 win and Grand Slam fever gripped the nation, Cardiff was bathed in warm sunshine, the capital city swamped with expectant Welsh fans.

Twenty-seven long years of harking back to the halcyon Seventies era had left a rugby-mad country wallowing in nostalgia, with precious little to show in between. Mike Ruddock had transformed a side that had shown signs of life under Steve Hansen at the 2003 Rugby World Cup into one which backed their innate ability to play the ‘Welsh way’.

At the heart of that guile and impudence was Shane Williams, who provided X-factor, in a side that preferred evasion to collision, while Gavin Henson, perma-tan and all, added cocksure confidence. Pre-game, Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins and Max Boyce serenaded the crowd mellifluously in Welsh song, before Wales got down to business.

The charge-down of Ronan O’Gara and subsequent try by a bullocking Gethin Jenkins early on has gone into Welsh folklore, but it wasn’t until the 57^th minute, when a darting Kevin Morgan took the ball to score after a scything break from Tom Shanklin, that the tears started flowing in the crowd and belief coursed through the red-clad fans in the stadium.

Two late Irish tries by Marcus Horan and Geordan Murphy gave the scoreline an air of respectability, but the roar at the final whistle would have been heard in Bristol. The long wait had ended. (OJ)

3. Johnny Sexton’s late, late drop-goal in Paris puts Irish on Grand Slam path – 2018

Ireland’s third Grand Slam is often looked back upon as a ceaseless march, the championship when Jacob Stockdale could not stop scoring. In reality, Joe Schmidt’s side came perilously close to falling at the first hurdle.

Ireland were 12-6 ahead when, with eight minutes left, Teddy Thomas left Stockdale, Rob Kearney, Johnny Sexton and Keith Earls in his vapor trails to score a scintillating try. Four minutes after his conversion, Anthony Belleau missed a penalty that would have left Ireland needing a try to win.

When Iain Henderson won Sexton’s restart, the game clock read 77:28. Ireland were making their final assault. Five minutes and 41 phases later, they had clinched an all-time classic. During that lung-busting, white-knuckle sequence, Conor Murray made 27 passes, Peter O’Mahony, Bundee Aki and CJ Stander combined for 16 carries. There were four line-breaks. All 15 Irish players made a carry. After 21 phases, the clock turned red and it was all or nothing.

Aki and Stander carried again before Sexton tossed the dice – a crossfield kick to Earls, who left Virimi Vakatawa on terra firma before stepping Henry Chavancy for a 20-metre gain. Ireland were within range, but they still had work to do. Aki offered himself up for another carry, Sexton sat on the pitch to stretch scalded calf muscles. Both sides were using up whatever reserves they had left. French fans were bellowing ‘La Marseillaise’ to rally their men.

The clock had ticked past 82:30 when Henderson’s carry convinced Sexton now was the time. Standing in the same spot where he had stretched his legs two minutes earlier, Sexton was back in the pocket. Conor Murray’s pass found him, 46 metres out. No time to fret, just trust instinct, technique and adrenaline to get the job done. As soon as he made the connection, Sexton started back-pedalling. He knew. Arms raised, he sprinted to the Irish in-goal area before being engulfed by delirious team-mates. The Slam was on. (PM)

2. Wales’ late 17-point comeback v Scotland – and Powell’s golf buggy ride – 2010

‘Rugby, bloody hell.’ You’d imagine if Sir Alex Ferguson was watching his beloved Scotland snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, he’d have uttered some more industrial language, after a fixture that left Scottish hearts in a thousand pieces and a gleeful Welsh crowd laughing in disbelief as they stumbled jauntily into the hostelries around the National Stadium.

With three minutes to go, at 24-14, Wales were still 10 points down, with replacement hooker Scott Lawson in the bin, but hope was instilled when Lee Byrne fed Leigh Halfpenny to scorch down the tryline to dot down under the sticks. Just three points adrift, at 24-21, and Scotland were rocking.

On 79 minutes, it got worse, as Phil Godman was also sin-binned for tripping tryline-bound Byrne, leaving Stephen Jones to level the scores at 24-24. Up in the director’s box, head coach Andy Robinson was looking decidedly queasy.

A ‘last play’ was called as crowd noise enveloped the stadium. Wales gathered the restart and after a series of phases against 13 men, the ball was worked infield to Shane Williams – who else? – to slide in under the sticks for the most unlikely of victories.

The celebrations went on into the night and led to the infamous incident of Andy Powell taking an early morning drive in a ‘borrowed’ golf cart along the M4 motorway to grab some munchies. Simply remarkable. (OJ)

1. Tries galore and jeopardy overload on Super, Super Saturday – 2015

There has never been a conclusion to the championship like it. The title race went down to the wire after it rained tries on the final day. There were 27 in all, and 221 points scored in the three games, as four sides fought it out for the title in a stock car race finish to the championship.

France’s hopes disappeared once Wales swamped Italy 60-21 in the first game in Rome. Warren Gatland’s side only led by a point – 14-13 – at the interval but were irresistible in the second half, with George North scoring a 10-minute hat-trick among eight Welsh tries in all.

They had racked up 47 unanswered points before Leonardo Sarto’s last-minute try for Italy knocked Wales’ points difference down to +53, leaving Ireland needing to beat Scotland by 21 to overtake them – this was pre-bonus points, remember.

Incredibly, Joe Schmidt’s side did it by 30, their 40-10 victory at Murrayfield a record winning margin in the fixture, setting England a huge target of a 26-point win against France in the final game to leapfrog them.

A riot of free-flowing rugby followed which had Twickenham bouncing as England – and France – attacked from everywhere. The hosts trailed 15-7 early on but ultimately out-scored the French seven tries-to-five in a breathless 55-35 win, their record points tally against France.When Jack Nowell scored with five minutes left, Stuart Lancaster’s side needed one more try to take the spoils. But despite driving a lineout to within a foot of the line with 30 seconds left, France won a penalty, England’s wonderful effort fell agonisingly short and the Irish were left celebrating in Edinburgh after a quite bonkers end to ‘rugby’s greatest championship’. (NS)

*If you missed the first 20 memorable moments, feel free to wallow in more nostalgia…

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