1976 Five Nations Championship

1976 Five Nations Championship
Date	10 January - 20 March 1976
Countries	England Ireland France Scotland Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	Wales (19th title)
Grand Slam	Wales (7th title)
Triple Crown	Wales (13th title)
Matches played	10
Tries scored	30 (3 per match)
Top point scorer	Phil Bennett (38)
Top try scorer	Gareth Edwards (3)
← 1975 (Previous) (Next) 1977 →

The 1976 Five Nations Championship was the 47th series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 82nd series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 10 January and 20 March 1976.

Wales won their 19th title, with a Grand Slam, and the Triple Crown. The victory consolidated Wales’s dominance during the 1970s, a decade in which they secured three Grand Slams and five championships.

The Scotland vs France match was played one week earlier than the England vs Wales fixture, allowing the BBC to cover both that game and the Ireland vs Australia test in Dublin on the same day. Bill Mclaren thus, unusually, commentated on the opening two games of a Five Nations Championship for the first time since the two games per weekend format was introduced in 1974.

Participants

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham	London	Peter Colston	Tony Neary
France	Parc des Princes	Paris	Jean Desclaux	Jacques Fouroux
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Roly Meates	Mike Gibson
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Bill Dickinson	Ian McLauchlan
Wales	National Stadium	Cardiff	John Dawes	Mervyn Davies

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Wales	4	4	0	0	102	37	+65	8
2	France	4	3	0	1	82	37	+45	6
3	Scotland	4	2	0	2	49	59	−10	4
4	Ireland	4	1	0	3	31	87	−56	2
5	England	4	0	0	4	42	86	−44	0

Source:

Squads

For each nation's squad for the 1976 Five Nations Championship, see 1976 Five Nations Championship squads.

Results

10 January 1976

Scotland	6–13	France
Pen: Renwick Drop: Morgan		Try: Dubertrand Pen: Romeu (3)

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Attendance: 55,000 Referee: K. A. Pattinson (England)

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17 January 1976

England	9–21	Wales
Pen: Hignell (3)		Try: Edwards J. P. R. Williams (2) Con: Fenwick (3) Pen: Martin

Twickenham Stadium, London Referee: G. Domercq (France)

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7 February 1976

France	26–3	Ireland
Try: Cholley Fouroux Pécune Rives Con: Bastiat Romeu Pen: Bastiat Romeu		Pen: Robbie

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 42,585 Referee: A. Welsby (England)

7 February 1976

Wales	28–6	Scotland
Try: Edwards Evans J. J. Williams Con: Bennett (2) Pen: Bennett (3) Drop: Fenwick		Try: Irvine Con: Morgan

National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: A. Cuny (France)

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21 February 1976

Ireland	9–34	Wales
Pen: McGann (3)		Try: Bennett Davies (2) Edwards Con: Bennett (3) Pen: Bennett (3) Martin

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: N. Sanson (Scotland)

21 February 1976

Scotland	22–12	England
Try: Lawson (2) Leslie Con: Irvine (2) Pen: Irvine (2)		Try: Maxwell Con: Old Pen: Old (2)

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Attendance: 70,000 Referee: D. M. M. Lloyd (Wales)

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6 March 1976

Wales	19–13	France
Try: J. J. Williams Pen: Bennett (2) Fenwick (2) Martin		Try: Averous Gourdon Con: Romeu Pen: Romeu

National Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 55,000 Referee: J. R. West (Ireland)

6 March 1976

England	12–13	Ireland
Pen: Old (4)		Try: Grace Pen: McGann (2) Drop: McGann

Twickenham Stadium, London Referee: Alan Hosie (Scotland)

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20 March 1976

France	30–9	England
Try: Bastiat Fouroux Gourdon Paparemborde (2) Romeu Con: Romeu (3)		Try: Dixon Con: Butler Pen: Butler

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 43,611 Referee: K. H. Clark (Ireland)

20 March 1976

Ireland	6–15	Scotland
Pen: McGann (2)		Pen: Irvine (4) Drop: Wilson

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: M. S. Lewis (Wales)

External links

• The official RBS Six Nations Site