1973 Five Nations Championship

1973 Five Nations Championship
Date	13 January 1973 - 14 April 1973
Countries	England Ireland France Scotland Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	England, Ireland, France, Scotland and Wales
Matches played	10
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The 1973 Five Nations Championship was the forty-fourth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the seventy-ninth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 13 January and 14 April.It was contested by England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

As each nation won their two home matches (and therefore lost their two away matches), the championship was shared between all five teams; no further tie-break was applied to separate teams finishing level on match points. This was the only time that the Five Nations championship finished in a five-way tie.

Due to the Troubles occurring in Ireland, which had resulted in the loss of over 100 British soldiers in 1972 and the potential risks both Scotland and Wales refused to play Ireland in Dublin. Defying expectations to the contrary, England agreed to travel. Despite a poor performance, resulting in an 18-9 loss, England received great credit for their attendance coupled with captain John Pullin's post-match quip "Well we might not be any good but at least we turned up".

Participants

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach
England	Twickenham	London	John Burgess
France	Parc des Princes	Paris	Jean Desclaux
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Syd Millar
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Bill Dickinson
Wales	National Stadium	Cardiff	Clive Rowlands

Table

Position	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	Wales	4	2	0	2	53	43	+10	4
1	Ireland	4	2	0	2	50	48	+2	4
1	France	4	2	0	2	38	36	+2	4
1	Scotland	4	2	0	2	55	59	−4	4
1	England	4	2	0	2	52	62	−10	4

Results

1973-01-13

France	16–13	Scotland

Parc des Princes, Paris

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1973-01-20

Wales	25–9	England

National Stadium, Cardiff

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1973-02-03

Scotland	10–9	Wales

Murrayfield, Edinburgh

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1973-02-10

Ireland	18–9	England

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

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1973-02-24

Scotland	19–14	Ireland

Murrayfield, Edinburgh

1973-02-24

England	14–6	France

Twickenham, London

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1973-03-10

Wales	16–12	Ireland

National Stadium, Cardiff

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1973-03-17

England	20–13	Scotland

Twickenham, London

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1973-03-24

France	12–3	Wales

Parc des Princes, Paris

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1973-04-14

Ireland	6–4	France

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

External links

• The official RBS Six Nations Site