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1973 Five Nations Championship

Rugby union competition

1973 Five Nations Championship
Date	13 January - 14 April 1973
Countries	England  Ireland  France  Scotland  Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	Shared
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)
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The 1973 Five Nations Championship was the 44th Five Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the men's national teams of England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the 79th since it began as the Home Nations Championship. Ten matches were played between 13 January and 14 April 1973.

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 13 civilians being 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]

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ireland	6–4	France
Pen.: Ensor Gibson		Tries: Phliponeau

• The official RBS Six Nations Site

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