1998 Five Nations Championship

1998 Five Nations Championship
Date	7 February 1998 – 5 April 1998
Countries	England Ireland France Scotland Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	France (12th title)
Grand Slam	France (6th title)
Triple Crown	England (21st title)
Calcutta Cup	England
Millennium Trophy	England
Centenary Quaich	Scotland
Matches played	10
Top point scorer(s)	Paul Grayson (66 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Philippe Bernat-Salles (4 tries)
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The 1998 Five Nations Championship was the sixty-ninth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played over five weekends from 7 February to 5 April. France won it with a Grand Slam. England had the consolation of winning the Triple Crown.

Participants

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach
England	Twickenham	London	Clive Woodward
France	Stade de France	Saint-Denis	Jean-Claude Skrela
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Brian Ashton (resigned)/Warren Gatland
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Jim Telfer
Wales	Wembley Stadium	London	Kevin Bowring

Squads

For each nation's squad for the 1998 Five Nations Championship, see 1998 Five Nations Championship squads.

Standings

Position	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	France	4	4	0	0	144	49	+95	8
2	England	4	3	0	1	146	87	+59	6
3	Wales	4	2	0	2	75	145	−70	4
4	Scotland	4	1	0	3	66	120	−54	2
5	Ireland	4	0	0	4	70	100	−30	0

Results

Week 1

7 February 1998 15:00	France	24 – 17	England	Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 77,567 Referee: David McHugh (Ireland)
	Tries: Bernat-Salles Dominici Con: Lamaison (1) Pen: Lamaison (2) Drop: Castaignède Sadourny	Report	Try: Back Pen: Grayson (4)

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7 February 1998 15:00	Ireland	16 – 17	Scotland	Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 55,000 Referee: Andre Watson (South Africa)
	Try: Penalty try Con: Humphreys Pen: Humphreys (2) Drop: Humphreys	Report	Try: Tait Pen: Chalmers (2) Shepherd (2)

• Ireland head coach Brian Ashton resigned on 20 February, being replaced by Warren Gatland, who was appointed on 24 February.

Week 2

21 February 1998 14:00	England	60 – 26	Wales	Twickenham, London Attendance: 75,000 Referee: Colin Hawke (New Zealand)
	Tries: Back Bracken Dallaglio Dawson Greenwood Healey Rees (2) Con: Grayson (7) Pen: Grayson (2)	Report	Tries: Bateman (2) Gibbs G. Thomas Con: N. Jenkins (3)

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21 February 1998 15:00	Scotland	16 – 51	France	Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 67,500 Referee: Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand)
	Try: Stanger Con: Chalmers Pen: Chalmers (3)	Report	Tries: Bernat-Salles (2) Brouzet Califano Carbonneau Castaignède M. Lièvremont Con: Castaignède (3) Lamaison (2) Pen: Castaignède Lamaison

Week 3

7 March 1998 15:00	France	18 – 16	Ireland	Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 78,000 Referee: Jim Fleming (Scotland)
	Tries: Bernat-Salles Ibañez Con: Lamaison (1) Pen: Lamaison (2)	Report	Try: Hickie Con: Elwood Pen: Elwood (3)

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7 March 1998 16:00	Wales	19 – 13	Scotland	Wembley, London Attendance: 75,000 Referee: Joel Dume (France)
	Try: Proctor Con: A. Thomas Pen: N. Jenkins A. Thomas (3)	Report	Tries: Cronin Townsend Pen: Chalmers

Week 4

21 March 1998 16:00	Ireland	21 – 30	Wales	Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 55,000 Referee: Ed Morrison (England)
	Tries: Costello Ward Con: Elwood (1) Pen: Elwood (3)	Report	Tries: Bateman N. Jenkins Morgan Con: N. Jenkins (3) Pen: N. Jenkins (3)

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22 March 1998 15:00	Scotland	20 – 34	England	Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 67,500 Referee: Clayton Thomas (Wales)
	Tries: Longstaff Stanger Con: Lee (2) Pen: Chalmers (2)	Report	Tries: Dawson Grayson Healey Penalty try Con: Grayson (4) Pen: Grayson Drop: Grayson

Week 5

4 April 1998 14:00 GMT	England	35 – 17	Ireland	Twickenham, London Attendance: 75,000 Referee: Derek Bevan (Wales)
	Tries: Catt Cockerill de Glanville Perry Con: Grayson (3) Pen: Grayson (3)	Report	Tries: Hickie (2) Con: Elwood (2) Pen: Elwood

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5 April 1998 15:00	Wales	0 – 51	France	Wembley, London Attendance: 72,000 Referee: Peter Marshall (Australia)
		Report	Tries: Galthié Garbajosa (2) Glas T. Lièvremont Sadourny (2) Con: Lamaison (5) Pen: Lamaison (2)