1972 Five Nations Championship

The 1972 Five Nations Championship was the forty-third series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the seventy-eighth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. The championship was not completed for the first time since World War II.

1972 Five Nations Championship
Date	15 January - 29 April 1972
Countries	England  Ireland  France  Scotland  Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	Not completed
Calcutta Cup	Scotland
Matches played	8
Tries scored	28 (3.5 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Barry John (32)
Top try scorer(s)	Bernard Duprat (4)
← 1971 (Previous) (Next) 1973 →

Scotland and Wales did not travel to Dublin to play Ireland because of the escalating political situation. Although the remaining fixtures of the schedule were fulfilled, as both Ireland and Wales won all their matches, neither could claim the title. To fill the gap of the missing two fixtures, France played a friendly match in Dublin (in addition to the scheduled match in Paris).

In total nine matches were played between 15 January and 29 April. It was contested by England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

This was the first Five Nations Championship where a try was worth four points.[1]

This tournament saw France play its last matches at its decades-long home ground of Colombes. The opening of the rebuilt Parc des Princes that June saw France move its Five Nations matches to that ground.

Participants

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham	London	John Elders	Bob Hiller/Peter Dixon
France	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir	Colombes	Fernand Cazenave	Benoit Dauga/Walter Spanghero/Pierre Villepreux
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Syd Millar	Tom Kiernan
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Bill Dickinson	Peter Brown
Wales	Cardiff Arms Park	Cardiff	Clive Rowlands	John Lloyd

Table

Position	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference
1	Wales	3	3	0	0	67	21	+46	6
2	Ireland	2	2	0	0	30	21	+9	4
3	Scotland	3	2	0	1	55	53	+2	4
4	France	4	1	0	3	61	66	−5	2
5	England	4	0	0	4	36	88	−52	0

Squads

Fixtures

Round 1

15 January 1972

England	3–12	Wales
Pen.: Hiller		Tries: J.P.R. Williams Con.: John Pen.: John (2)

Twickenham, London Referee: J. Young (Scotland)

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15 January 1972

Scotland	20–9	France
Tries: Frame Renwick Telfer Con. A. Brown Pen.: P. Brown Drops: Telfer		Tries: Dauga Con.: Villepreux Pen.: Villepreux

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 50,000 Referee: M. Joseph (Wales)

Round 2

29 January 1972

France	9–14	Ireland
Tries: Lux Con.: Villepreux Pen.: Villepreux		Tries: McLoughlin Moloney Pen.: Kiernan (2)

Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes Attendance: 26,939 Referee: A. R. Lewis (Wales)

Round 3

5 February 1972

Wales	35–12	Scotland
Tries: Bergiers Davies Edwards (2) Taylor Con.: John (3) Pen.: John (3)		Tries: Clark Con.: P. Brown Pen.: P. Brown Renwick

National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: G. A. Jamison (Ireland)

Round 4

12 February 1972

England	12–16	Ireland
Tries: Ralston Con.: Hiller Pen.: Hiller (2)		Tries: Flynn Grace Con.: Kiernan Pen.: Kiernan Drops: McGann

Twickenham, London Referee: R. Austry (France)

Round 5

26 February 1972

Ireland	Cancelled	Scotland

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

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26 February 1972

France	37–12	England
Tries: Biemouret Duprat (2) Lux Sillieres Spanghero Con.: Villepreux (5) Pen.: Villepreux		Tries: Beese Con.: Old Pen.: Old (2)

Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes Attendance: 33,860 Referee: T. F. E. Grierson (Scotland)

Round 6

26 February 1972

Ireland	Cancelled	Wales

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

Round 7

18 March 1972

Scotland	23–9	England
Tries: Brown MacEwan Pen.: A. Brown P. Brown (3) Drops: Telfer		Pen.: Old (3)

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: M. Joseph (Wales)

Round 8

25 March 1972

Wales	20–6	France
Tries: Bevan Davies Pen.: John (4)		Pen.: Villepreux (2)

National Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 50,000 Referee: M. H. Titcomb (England)

Friendly match

29 April 1972

Ireland	24–14	France
Tries: Duggan Flynn Moloney Con.: Kiernan (3) Pen.: Kiernan (2)		Tries: Duprat (2) Lux Con.: Villepreux

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 35,000 Referee: R. F. Johnson (England)

References

1. "Scoring history". Rugby Football History. Retrieved 15 November 2016.

External links

• The official RBS Six Nations Site
• http://stats.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/records/team/match_results.html?id=650;type=tournament