1998 Five Nations Championship

1998 Five Nations Championship
Date	7 February – 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
Tries scored	51 (5.1 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Paul Grayson (66 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Philippe Bernat-Salles (4 tries)
← 1997 (Previous) (Next) 1999 →

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, the Calcutta Cup and the Millennium Trophy.

Participants[]

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham	London	Clive Woodward	Lawrence Dallaglio
France	Stade de France	Saint-Denis	Jean-Claude Skrela	Raphaël Ibañez
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Keith Wood
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Jim Telfer	Gary Armstrong
Wales	Wembley Stadium[1]	London	Kevin Bowring	Rob Howley

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
Tries: Bernat-Salles Dominici Con: Lamaison (1) Pen: Lamaison (2) Drop: Castaignède Sadourny	Report	Try: Back Pen: Grayson (4)

Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 77,567 Referee: David McHugh (Ireland)

7 February 1998 15:00

Ireland	16–17	Scotland
Try: Penalty try Con: Humphreys Pen: Humphreys (2) Drop: Humphreys	Report	Try: Tait Pen: Chalmers (2) Shepherd (2)

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 55,000 Referee: Andre Watson (South Africa)

• 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
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)

Twickenham, London Attendance: 75,000 Referee: Colin Hawke (New Zealand)

21 February 1998 15:00

Scotland	16–51	France
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

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 67,500 Referee: Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand)

Week 3[]

7 March 1998 15:00

France	18–16	Ireland
Tries: Bernat-Salles Ibañez Con: Lamaison (1) Pen: Lamaison (2)	Report	Try: Hickie Con: Elwood Pen: Elwood (3)

Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 78,000 Referee: Jim Fleming (Scotland)

7 March 1998 16:00

Wales	19–13	Scotland
Try: Proctor Con: A. Thomas Pen: N. Jenkins A. Thomas (3)	Report	Tries: Cronin Townsend Pen: Chalmers

Wembley, London Attendance: 75,000 Referee: Joël Dumé (France)

Week 4[]

21 March 1998 16:00

Ireland	21–30	Wales
Tries: Costello Ward Con: Elwood (1) Pen: Elwood (3)	Report	Tries: Bateman N. Jenkins Morgan Con: N. Jenkins (3) Pen: N. Jenkins (3)

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 55,000 Referee: Ed Morrison (England)

22 March 1998 15:00

Scotland	20–34	England
Tries: Longstaff Stanger Con: (2) Pen: Chalmers (2)	Report	Tries: Dawson Grayson Healey Penalty try Con: Grayson (4) Pen: Grayson Drop: Grayson

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 67,500 Referee: Clayton Thomas (Wales)

Week 5[]

4 April 1998 14:00 BST

England	35–17	Ireland
Tries: Catt Cockerill de Glanville Perry Con: Grayson (3) Pen: Grayson (3)	Report	Tries: Hickie (2) Con: Elwood (2) Pen: Elwood

Twickenham, London Attendance: 75,000 Referee: Derek Bevan (Wales)

5 April 1998 15:00

Wales	0–51	France
	Report	Tries: Galthié Garbajosa (2) Glas T. Lièvremont Sadourny (2) Con: Lamaison (5) Pen: Lamaison (2)

Wembley, London Attendance: 72,000 Referee: Peter Marshall (Australia)

References[]