1978 Five Nations Championship

1978 Five Nations Championship
Date	21 January - 18 March 1978
Countries	England Ireland France Scotland Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	Wales (20th title)
Grand Slam	Wales (8th title)
Triple Crown	Wales (15th title)
Matches played	10
Tries scored	24 (2.4 per match)
Top point scorer	Tony Ward (38)
Top try scorer	Jérôme Gallion (3)
← 1977 (Previous) (Next) 1979 →

The 1978 Five Nations Championship was the forty-ninth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the eighty-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 21 January and 18 March. The tournament was contested by England, France, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The championship was won by Wales, their twentieth outright win in the competition. The Welsh had shared another nine titles with other teams. Having won all four of their games, Wales also won the Grand Slam for a record eighth time - Wales had formerly shared the record of seven with England. Victories over England, Ireland and Scotland (the Home Nations), also meant Wales won the Triple Crown for the third consecutive time, a record, given no other team had ever won the Triple Crown more than twice in a row. It was Wales' fifteenth in total, also a record, surpassing the fourteen won by England.

The tournament was the first Five Nations Championship in which two teams each with three victories faced off against each other in the final round of matches, with both capable of completing a Grand Slam with a victory.

Participants

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham	London	Peter Colston	Bill Beaumont
France	Parc des Princes	Paris	Jean Desclaux	Jean-Pierre Bastiat
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Noel Murphy	John Moloney
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Nairn McEwan	Dougie Morgan
Wales	National Stadium	Cardiff	John Dawes	Phil Bennett

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Wales	4	4	0	0	67	43	+24	8
2	France	4	3	0	1	51	47	+4	6
3	England	4	2	0	2	42	33	+9	4
4	Ireland	4	1	0	3	46	54	−8	2
5	Scotland	4	0	0	4	39	68	−29	0

Source:

Squads

For each nation's squad for the 1978 Five Nations Championship, see 1978 Five Nations Championship squads.

Results

1978-01-21

France	15–6	England
Tries: Averous Gallion Con.: Aguirre (2) Pen.: Aguirre		Drops: Old (2)

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 43,643 Referee: N. Sanson (Scotland)

1978-01-21

Ireland	12–9	Scotland
Tries: McKinney Con.: Ward Pen.: Ward (2)		Pen.: Morgan (3)

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: P. E. Hughes (England)

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1978-02-04

Scotland	16–19	France
Tries: Irvine Shedden Con.: Morgan Pen.: Morgan Drops: Morgan		Tries: Gallion Haget Con.: Aguirre Pen.: Aguirre (3)

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 55,000 Referee: C. G. P. Thomas (Wales)

1978-02-04

England	6–9	Wales
Pen.: Hignell (2)		Pen.: Bennett (3)

Twickenham, London Referee: N. Sanson (Scotland)

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1978-02-18

Wales	22–14	Scotland
Tries: Edwards Fenwick Gravell Quinnell Pen.: Bennett Drops: Bennett		Tries: Renwick Tomes Pen.: Morgan (2)

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

1978-02-18

France	10–9	Ireland
Tries: Gallion Pen.: Aguirre (2)		Pen.: Ward (3)

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 43,639 Referee: C. G. P. Thomas (Wales)

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1978-03-04

Scotland	0–15	England
		Tries: Nelmes Squires Con.: Young (2) Pen.: Dodge

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: J. R. West (Ireland)

1978-03-04

Ireland	16–20	Wales
Tries: Moloney Pen.: Ward (3) Drops: Ward		Tries: Fenwick Williams Pen.: Fenwick (4)

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: G. Domercq (France)

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1978-03-18

Wales	16–7	France
Tries: Bennett (2) Con.: Bennett Drops: Edwards Fenwick		Tries: Skrela Drops: Vivies

National Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 60,000 Referee: A. Welsby (England)

1978-03-18

England	15–9	Ireland
Tries: Dixon Slemen Con.: Young (2) Pen.: Young		Pen.: Ward (2) Drops: Ward

Twickenham, London Referee: F. Palmade (France)

References

• 1978 Five Nations results

External links

• The official RBS Six Nations Site