1973 Five Nations Championship

1973 Five Nations Championship
Date	13 January - 14 April 1973
Countries	England  Ireland  France  Scotland  Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	England,  Ireland,  France,  Scotland and  Wales
Calcutta Cup	England
Matches played	10
Tries scored	28 (2.8 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Jean-Pierre Romeu (26)
Top try scorer(s)	William Steele (3)
← 1972 (Previous) (Next) 1974 →

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 13 civilians killed by the British Army in Derry and in the loss of over 100 British soldiers in 1972 and the potential security risks, both Scotland and Wales had refused to play Ireland in Dublin in 1972. Defying expectations to the contrary, England agreed to travel in 1973. Despite a poor performance, resulting in an 18-9 loss, the crowd in the Lansdowne Road stadium gave a standing ovation to the England team. England captain John Pullin delivered a quip at a post-match dinner - "Well we might not be any good but at least we turned up" - to great applause.^[1]

Participants[]

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham	London	John Elders	John Pullin
France	Parc des Princes	Paris	Jean Desclaux	Walter Spanghero
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Syd Millar	Tom Kiernan/Willie John McBride
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Bill Dickinson	Peter Brown
Wales	National Stadium	Cardiff	Clive Rowlands	Arthur Lewis

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

Squads[]

Results[]

1973-01-13

France	16–13	Scotland
Tries: Dourthe Pen.: Romeu (3) Drops: Romeu		Tries: Lawson Pen.: Brown (2) Drops: McGeechan

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 37,232 Referee: K. Pattinson (England) F. Palmade (France)

1973-01-20

Wales	25–9	England
Tries: Bevan (2) Davies Edwards Lewis Con.: Bennett Pen.: Taylor		Pen.: Doble (2) Drops: Cowman

National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: G. Domercq (France)

1973-02-03

Scotland	10–9	Wales
Tries: Steele Telfer Con.: Morgan		Pen.: Bennett (2) Taylor

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: F. Palmade (France)

1973-02-10

Ireland	18–9	England
Tries: Grace Milliken Con.: (2) Pen.: Drops:		Tries: Neary Con.: Jorden Pen.: Jorden

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Alan Hosie (Scotland)

1973-02-24

Scotland	19–14	Ireland
Tries: Forsyth Pen.: Morgan (2) Drops: McGeechan Morgan (2)		Tries: Kiernan Pen.: (2)

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: A. R. Lewis (Wales)

1973-02-24

England	14–6	France
Tries: Duckham (2) Pen.: Jorden (2)		Tries: Bertranne Con.: Romeu

Twickenham, London Attendance: 70,000 Referee: K. H. Clark (Ireland)

1973-03-10

Wales	16–12	Ireland
Tries: Edwards Con.: Bennett Pen.: Bennett (2)		Tries: Gibson Con.: Pen.: (2)

National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: T. F. E. Grierson (Scotland)

1973-03-17

England	20–13	Scotland
Tries: Dixon (2) Evans Squires Con.: Jorden (2)		Tries: Steele (2) Con.: Irvine Pen.: Morgan

Twickenham, London Referee: J. C. Kelleher (Wales)

1973-03-24

France	12–3	Wales
Pen.: Romeu (3) Drops: Romeu		Drops: Bennett

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 50,000 Referee: D. P. d'Arcy (Ireland)

1973-04-14

Ireland	6–4	France
Pen.: Gibson		Tries:

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 50,000 Referee: R. F. Johnson (England)

References[]

External links[]

• The official RBS Six Nations Site