1981 Five Nations Championship

The 1981 Five Nations Championship was the 52nd series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 87th series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 17 January and 21 March.

1981 Five Nations Championship
Date	17 January – 21 March 1981
Countries	England  Ireland  France  Scotland  Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	France (7th title)
Grand Slam	France (3rd title)
Matches played	10
Tries scored	25 (2.5 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Dusty Hare (30)
Top try scorer(s)	France Laurent Pardo (2) Steve Munro (2)
← 1980 (Previous) (Next) 1982 →

France were the winners, winning the championship outright for the eighth time. They had also shared the title on four other occasions. In winning all their four matches they also won the Grand Slam for the third time.

Participants

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham Stadium	London	Mike Davis	Bill Beaumont
France	Parc des Princes	Paris	Jacques Fouroux	Jean-Pierre Rives
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Tom Kiernan	Fergus Slattery
Scotland	Murrayfield Stadium	Edinburgh	Jim Telfer	Andy Irvine
Wales	National Stadium	Cardiff	John Lloyd	Steve Fenwick

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	France	4	4	0	0	70	49	+21	8
2	England	4	2	0	2	64	60	+4	4
2	Scotland	4	2	0	2	51	54	−3	4
2	Wales	4	2	0	2	51	61	−10	4
5	Ireland	4	0	0	4	36	48	−12	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Squads

For each nation's squad for the 1981 Five Nations Championship, see 1981 Five Nations Championship squads.

Results

17 January 1981

France	16–9	Scotland
Try: Blanco Bertranne Con: Caussade Pen: Gabernet Viviès		Try: Rutherford Con: Renwick Pen: Irvine

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 44,448 Referee: K. Rowlands (Wales)

17 January 1981

Wales	21–19	England
Try: Davis Con: Fenwick Pen: Fenwick (4) Drop: Davies		Try: Hare Pen: Hare (5)

National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: J. B. Anderson (Scotland)

---

7 February 1981

Ireland	13–19	France
Try: MacNeill Pen: Campbell (3)		Try: Pardo Pen: Laporte (2) Gabernet Drop: Laporte (2)

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 51,000 Referee: C. Norling (Wales)

7 February 1981

Scotland	15–6	Wales
Try: Tomes Penalty try Con: Renwick (2) Pen: Renwick		Pen: Fenwick (2)

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Referee: D. I. H. Burnett (Ireland)

---

21 February 1981

Wales	9–8	Ireland
Pen: Evans (2) Drop: Pearce		Try: Slattery MacNeill

National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: F. Palmade (France)

21 February 1981

England	23–17	Scotland
Try: Davies Slemen Woodward Con: Hare Pen: Hare (3)		Try: Munro (2) Calder Con: Irvine Pen: Irvine

Twickenham Stadium, London Referee: D. I. H. Burnett (Ireland)

---

7 March 1981

France	19–15	Wales
Try: Gabernet Pen: Laporte (3) Gabernet (2)		Try: Richards Con: Evans Pen: Evans (3)

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 45,249 Referee: A. Welsby (England)

7 March 1981

Ireland	6–10	England
Drop: Campbell MacNeill		Try: Dodge Rose Con: Rose

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: J. P. Bonnett (France)

---

21 March 1981

England	12–16	France
Pen: Rose (4)		Try: Lacans Pardo Con: Laporte Drop: Laporte (2)

Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 62,000 Referee: Alan Hosie (Scotland)

21 March 1981

Scotland	10–9	Ireland
Try: Hay Pen: Irvine Drop: Rutherford		Try: Irwin Con: Campbell Pen: Campbell

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Referee: L. M. Prideaux (England)

External links

• Sports portal

• The official RBS Six Nations Site