Back in 1882, exactly 100 years before I was born, the Four Nations rugby competition was formed. It was originally contested between England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and the fortunes of the different teams have varied through the years.
Scotland and England shared early successes, but with the turn of the century came numerous changes. Four became five with the addition of the French — but the team didn’t have the same flair that we know well from the modern game. The French struggled, winning only once in their first five years — how my heart bleeds for them!
War left the Five Nations on the sidelines, but when it resumed in 1947 there was a slight change of the guard. Ireland, who had shown mixed form up until then, won the competition several times before the French finally buckled down, dominating from the mid-1950s and through the 1960s.
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