Brendan Gallagher looks back exactly 40 years to England’s great Grand Slam of 1980

Europe’s best: The 1980 England squad and, right, Dusty Hare tackles French captain Jean Pierre Rives

SOME Grand Slams seem to count more than others, they just do, and that was certainly the case in 1980 when England beat Scotland 30-19 in a cracking finale at Murrayfield and skipper Bill Beaumont was chaired off by Fran Cotton and Tony Neary.
Today – March 15 – is the 40th anniversary of a moment that was both ecstasy and deliverance. It had been 23 years since England had won a ...