1972 Five Nations Championship

1972 Five Nations Championship
Date	15 January - 29 April 1972
Countries	England Ireland France Scotland Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	Not completed
Matches played	8
Tries scored	28 (3.5 per match)
Top point scorer	Barry John (35)
Top try scorers	Bernard Duprat (2) Gerald Davies (2) Gareth Edwards (2)
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The 1972 Five Nations Championship was the 43rd Five Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the men's national teams of England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the 78th since it began as the Home Nations Championship.

For the first time since the Second World War, the championship was not completed. Scotland and Wales did not travel to Dublin to play Ireland because of escalating political tensions in the wake of Bloody Sunday. 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 1972.

This was the first Five Nations Championship in which a try was worth four points.

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

Participants

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
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

Source:

Squads

For each nation's squad for the 1972 Five Nations Championship, see 1972 Five Nations Championship squads.

Fixtures

15 January 1972

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

Twickenham Stadium, London Referee: J. Young (Scotland)

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15 January 1972

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

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

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29 January 1972

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

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

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5 February 1972

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

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

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12 February 1972

England	12–16	Ireland
Try: Ralston Con: Hiller Pen: Hiller (2)		Try: Flynn Grace Con: Kiernan Pen: Kiernan Drop: McGann

Twickenham Stadium, London Referee: R. Austry (France)

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26 February 1972

Ireland	Cancelled	Scotland

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

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26 February 1972

France	37–12	England
Try: Biemouret Duprat (2) Lux Sillières Spanghero Con: Villepreux (5) Pen: Villepreux		Try: Beese Con: Old Pen: Old (2)

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

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11 March 1972

Ireland	Cancelled	Wales

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

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18 March 1972

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

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Referee: M. Joseph (Wales)

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25 March 1972

Wales	20–6	France
Try: 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
Try: Duggan Flynn Moloney Con: Kiernan (3) Pen: Kiernan (2)		Try: Duprat (2) Lux Con: Villepreux

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

External links

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