the reigning champions on entering the 2009 tournament were wales, who won the grand slam and triple crown in 2008. the winners of both accolades in 2009 were ireland, with ronan o'gara's dropped goal leaving the score in the final match against wales in cardiff on 21 march at 17–15. wales's stephen jones then missed a late penalty from just inside the ireland half to leave wales in fourth position. ireland's two tries in that match came when captain brian o'driscoll and tommy bowe scored in quick succession in the 44th and 46th minutes respectively. paul o'connell received the triple crown and ireland's captain brian o'driscoll lifted the trophy. it was ireland's first grand slam in 61 years, their last one being in 1948. this was achieved in the first six nations championship since declan kidney was appointed as manager of the ireland team, succeeding eddie o'sullivan who resigned after the previous tournament.