1979 Five Nations Championship

1979 Five Nations Championship
Date	20 January - 17 March 1979
Countries	England Ireland France Scotland Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	Wales (21st title)
Triple Crown	Wales (16th title)
Matches played	10
Tries scored	32 (3.2 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Steve Fenwick (38)
Top try scorer(s)	Colin Patterson (3) Andy Irvine (3)
← 1978 (Previous) (Next) 1980 →

The 1979 Five Nations Championship was the fiftieth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the eighty-fifth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 20 January and 17 March.

Wales were the champions for the second consecutive season, winning a record twenty-first outright title. They had also shared the championship on nine other occasions. In beating Scotland, Ireland and England they also won the Triple Crown for a record fourth successive season and extended their record number of Triple Crown wins to sixteen. This would be the last time that Wales won back-to-back championships until 2013.

Participants

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham	London	Peter Colston	Roger Uttley
France	Parc des Princes	Paris	Jean Desclaux	Jean-Pierre Rives
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Noel Murphy	Fergus Slattery
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Nairn McEwan	Ian McGeechan
Wales	National Stadium	Cardiff	John Dawes	J.P.R. Williams

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Wales	4	3	0	1	83	51	32	6
2	France	4	2	1	1	50	46	4	5
3	Ireland	4	1	2	1	53	51	2	4
4	England	4	1	1	2	24	52	−28	3
5	Scotland	4	0	2	2	48	58	−10	2

Source:

Squads

For each nation's squad for the 1979 Five Nations Championship, see 1979 Five Nations Championship squads.

Results

1979-01-20

Ireland	9–9	France
Pen.: Ward (3)		Tries: Caussade Con.: Aguirre Pen.: Aguirre

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 51,000 Referee: R. C. Quittenton (England)

1979-01-20

Scotland	13–19	Wales
Tries: Irvine Pen.: Irvine (3)		Tries: Holmes Rees Con.: Fenwick Pen.: Fenwick (3)

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: F. Palmade (France)

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1979-02-03

Wales	24–21	Ireland
Tries: Martin Ringer Con.: Fenwick (2) Pen.: Fenwick (4)		Tries: McLennan Patterson Con.: Ward (2) Pen.: Ward (3)

National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: Alan Hosie (Scotland)

1979-02-03

England	7–7	Scotland
Tries: Slemen Pen.: Bennett		Tries: Rutherford Pen.: Irvine

Twickenham, London Referee: C. Norling (Wales)

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1979-02-17

France	14–13	Wales
Tries: Gourdon (2) Pen.: Aguirre (2)		Tries: Holmes Pen.: Fenwick (3)

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 45,259 Referee: D. I. H. Burnett (Ireland)

1979-02-17

Ireland	12–7	England
Tries: McLennan Con.: Ward Pen.: Ward Drops: Ward		Tries: Bennett Pen.: Bennett

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: Alan Hosie (Scotland)

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1979-03-03

England	7–6	France
Tries: Bennett Pen.: Bennett		Tries: Costes Con.: Aguirre

Twickenham, London Attendance: 67,800 Referee: J. R. West (Ireland)

1979-03-03

Scotland	11–11	Ireland
Tries: Irvine Robertson Pen.: Irvine		Tries: Patterson (2) Pen.: Ward

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: C. Thomas (Wales)

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1979-03-17

France	21–17	Scotland
Tries: Bélascain Malquier (2) Pen.: Aguerre Aguirre Drops: Aguerre		Tries: Dickson Irvine Robertson Con.: Irvine Pen.: Irvine

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 45,000 Referee: R. C. Quittenton (England)

1979-03-17

Wales	27–3	England
Tries: Rees Richards Ringer Roberts Williams Con.: Fenwick Martin Drops: G. Davies		Pen.: Bennett

National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: J. P. Bonnet (France)

External links

• The official RBS Six Nations Site