1973 Five Nations Championship

The 1973 Five Nations Championship was the forty-fourth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the seventy-ninth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 13 January and 14 April. It was contested by England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

1973 Five Nations Championship
Date	13 January - 14 April 1973
Countries	England  Ireland  France  Scotland  Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	England,  Ireland,  France,  Scotland and  Wales
Calcutta Cup	England
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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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 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]