1988 Five Nations Championship

1988 Five Nations Championship
1988 Five Nations Championship
Date	16 January – 19 March 1988
Countries	England; Ireland; France; Scotland; Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	France and Wales
Triple Crown	Wales (17th title)
Matches played	10
Tries scored	31 (3.1 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Gavin Hastings (41 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Chris Oti (3 tries)
← 1987 (Previous)	(Next) 1989 →

The 1988 Five Nations Championship was the fifty–ninth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the ninety–fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played over five weekends between 16 January and 19 March. It marked the final time the Championship was shared between two nations, with Wales and France being declared joint winners with 6 points each. In future tournaments, overall points difference would be used to separate teams with the same number of points so that the tournament would be more likely to have an outright winner.^[1]

The final match of the tournament, England's victory over Ireland, was notable for the crowd bursting into song with "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" as a response to the hat-trick of tries scored by England's Chris Oti (only the second black player, and the first for 80 years, to be capped by England). The song was subsequently to become the unofficial rugby anthem for England.^[2]

Participants

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach
England	Twickenham	London	Geoff Cooke
France	Parc des Princes	Paris	Jacques Fouroux
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Jim Davidson
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Jim Telfer
Wales	National Stadium	Cardiff	Tony Gray

Squads

Table

Position	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
Position	Nation	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference	Table points
1	Wales	4	3	0	1	57	42	+15	6
1	France	4	3	0	1	57	47	+10	6
3	England	4	2	0	2	56	30	+26	4
4	Scotland	4	1	0	3	67	68	−1	2
4	Ireland	4	1	0	3	40	90	−50	2

^[3]

Results

1988-01-16

Ireland	22–18	Scotland
Tries: Kiernan MacNeill Mullin Con.: Kiernan (2) Pen.: Kiernan Drops: Kiernan	Report	Tries: S. Hastings Laidlaw Con.: G. Hastings (2) Pen.: G. Hastings (2)

Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Referee: R. Quittenton (England)

1988-01-16

France	10–9	England
Tries: Rodriguez Pen.: Bérot (2)	Report	Pen.: Webb (2) Drops: Cusworth

Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance: 45,071
Referee: O. E. Doyle (Ireland)

1988-02-06

Scotland	23–12	France
Tries: G. Hastings Tukalo Pen.: G. Hastings (4) Drops: Cramb	Report	Tries: Lagisquet Con.: Bérot Pen.: Bérot Drops: Lescarboura

Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Attendance: 65,000
Referee: F. Muller (South Africa)

1988-02-06

England	3–11	Wales
Pen.: Webb	Report	Tries: Hadley (2) Drops: J. Davies

Twickenham, London
Referee: S. R. Hilditch (Ireland)

1988-02-20

France	25–6	Ireland
Tries: Blanco Camberabero Carminati Lagisquet Sella Con.: Bérot Drops: Camberabero	Report	Pen.: Kiernan (2)

Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance: 49,130
Referee: F. Muller (South Africa)

1988-02-20

Wales	25–20	Scotland
Tries: J. Davies I. Evans Watkins Con.: Thorburn (2) Pen.: Thorburn Drops: J. Davies (2)	Report	Tries: Calder Duncan Pen.: G. Hastings (4)

National Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: Y. Bressy (France)

1988-03-05

Ireland	9–12	Wales
Tries: Kingston Con.: Kiernan Pen.: Kiernan	Report	Tries: Moriarty Con.: Thorburn Pen.: Thorburn Drops: J. Davies

Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Referee: R. J. Megson (Scotland)

1988-03-05

Scotland	6–9	England
Pen.: G. Hastings	Report	Pen.: Webb (2) Drops: Andrew

Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Referee: W. Jones (Wales)

1988-03-19

Wales	9–10	France
Tries: I. Evans Con.: Thorburn Pen.: Thorburn	Report	Tries: Lescarboura Pen.: Lafond (2)

National Stadium, Cardiff
Attendance: 63,000
Referee: F. A. Howard (England)

1988-03-19

England	35–3	Ireland
Tries: Oti (3) Rees R. Underwood (2) Con.: Andrew (3) Webb Pen.: Webb	Report	Drops: Kiernan

Twickenham, London
Referee: C. Norling (Wales)

^[3]

Preceded by 1987 Five Nations	Five Nations Championship 1988	Succeeded by 1989 Five Nations

References

^ Murray, Scott (2011-02-18). "The Joy of Six: Five Nations memories". Guardian. London. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
^ "Oti the man to blame as 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' continues to roll". Irish Independent. 13 March 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
^ ^a ^b Stephen Jones, ed. (1988). Rothmans Rugby Union Yearbook 1988-89 (17th ed.). London: Queen Anne Press.

External links

1988 Five Nations Championship at ESPN

[1] Murray, Scott (2011-02-18). "The Joy of Six: Five Nations memories". Guardian. London. Retrieved 3 July 2013.

[2] "Oti the man to blame as 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' continues to roll". Irish Independent. 13 March 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2013.

[Rothmans89-3] Stephen Jones, ed. (1988). Rothmans Rugby Union Yearbook 1988-89 (17th ed.). London: Queen Anne Press.

[1]

[2]

[3]