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Perfect 10 for Ireland

Ireland matched their previous record by defeating England earlier this month © Getty Images

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When was Ireland's last run of ten Test wins? Mike, Ireland

Ireland had a run of ten successive Test victories from the autumn of 2002 until the Grand Slam decider with England at the climax of the 2003 Six Nations (when they were well beaten by the side that Clive Woodward steered to Rugby World Cup honours).

The run began with Anthony Foley and Keith Wood leading the side to three wins in World Cup qualifying matches in September and continued under Brian O'Driscoll's leadership with three home wins in the autumn internationals and four straight victories in the opening rounds of the 2003 International Championship.

2002

September 7 Won 39-8 v Romania (Limerick) September 21 Won 35-3 v Russia (Krasnoyarsk) September 28 Won 63-14 v Georgia (Dublin) November 9 Won 18-9 v Australia (Dublin) November 17 Won 64-17 v Fiji (Dublin) November 23 Won 16-7 v Argentina (Dublin)

2003

February 16 Won 36-6 v Scotland (Murrayfield) February 22 Won 37-17 v Italy (Rome) March 8 Won 15-12 v France (Dublin) March 22 Won 25-24 v Wales (Cardiff)

The current Irish side, led by Paul O'Connell and coached by Joe Schmidt, were poised to break that national record. They went to Cardiff for their Six Nations match with Wales last Saturday with another straight flush of ten wins to their name. Their last defeat was 13-10 at Twickenham in February 2013, but alas they lost 23-17 in a Six Nations thriller last weekend.

John Griffiths is a widely respected rugby historian and is the author of several sports books, a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and co-author of the IRB International Rugby Yearbook. He has provided insight for Scrum.com since 1999.

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