The Auld Alliance Trophy is a

trophy A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sports, sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athlet ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

awarded to the winner of the annual

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

match between

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The Trophy was first awarded in 2018, the centenary of the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, to commemorate the French and Scottish rugby players who were killed during the conflict, in particular the captains of the two nations in the last matches played before the First World War – Eric Milroy (Scotland) and Marcel Burgun (France). The Trophy was carried on to the pitch at Murrayfield before the Six Nations match by Lachlan Ross and Romain Cabanis, 11-year-old descendants of the Milroy and Burgun families. In all, 30 Scottish and 22 French internationals were killed in the war. Manufactured from solid silver by Thomas Lyte & Co. and featuring a design of poppies and cornflowers for remembrance, the Trophy was promoted to the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Now marketed as Scottish Rugby, it is the second-oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league sys ...

and the

Fédération française de rugby The French Rugby Federation (, ; FFR) is the governing body for rugby union in France. It is responsible for the France national rugby union team, French national team and the National Rugby League (France), Ligue nationale de rugby that administ ...

by Patrick Caublot of Amiens Rugby Club and by David Anderson, Milroy's great-great-nephew. The Trophy is inscribed, in English and French, with the words: "In memory of Eric Milroy, Marcel Burgun and all the French and Scottish rugby players who fell during World War I". In October 2022, a descendant of Eric Milroy was identified in Ollie Smith, a player for the Glagows Warriors and the Scottish national team The name of the trophy is a reference to the 13th century

Auld Alliance The Auld Alliance ( Scots for "Old Alliance") was an alliance between the kingdoms of Scotland and France against England made in 1295. The Scots word ''auld'', meaning ''old'', has become a partly affectionate term for the long-lasting asso ...

between France and Scotland. Overall, as of 2024 there have been 103 matches between the two countries. There have been three

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

meetings, each time in the initial pool stage, with the first fixture ending in a draw (20–20 in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

) and France winning both of the others (22–19 in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, and 51–9 in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

). In addition, the teams played two 'warm-up' test matches in preperation for the

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup () was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game ...

Matches

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auld Alliance Trophy Six Nations Championship trophies International rugby union competitions hosted by France International rugby union competitions hosted by Scotland History of rugby union matches between France and Scotland

Trophy A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sports, sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athlet ...

Rugby union international rivalry trophies Recurring sporting events established in 2018

Matches

Results

See also

References