1988 Five Nations Championship

1988 Five Nations Championship
Date	16 January – 19 March 1988
Countries	England  Ireland  France  Scotland  Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	France and  Wales
Triple Crown	Wales (17th title)
Matches played	10
Tries scored	31 (3.1 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Gavin Hastings (41 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Chris Oti (3 tries)
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The 1988 Five Nations Championship was the 59th series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the ninety–fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played over five weekends between 16 January and 19 March. Wales and France were declared joint winners with six points each; it was the most recent time the Championship was shared between two or more nations as the rules were changed in 1994 to make such an event unlikely.^[1]

The final match of the tournament, England's victory over Ireland, was notable for the crowd bursting into song with "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" as a response to the hat-trick of tries scored by England's Chris Oti (only the second black player, and the first for 80 years, to be capped by England). The song was subsequently to become the unofficial rugby anthem for England.^[2]

Wales missed out on a ninth Grand Slam after losing to France at Cardiff Arms Park.

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham	London	Geoff Cooke	Mike Harrison/Nigel Melville
France	Parc des Princes	Paris	Jacques Fouroux	Daniel Dubroca
Ireland	Lansdowne Road	Dublin	Jim Davidson	Donal Lenihan
Scotland	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	Jim Telfer	Gary Callander
Wales	National Stadium	Cardiff	Tony Gray	Bleddyn Bowen

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Wales	4	3	0	1	57	42	+15	6
1	France	4	3	0	1	57	47	+10	6
3	England	4	2	0	2	56	30	+26	4
4	Scotland	4	1	0	3	67	68	−1	2
4	Ireland	4	1	0	3	40	90	−50	2

16 January 1988

Ireland	22–18	Scotland
Try: Kiernan MacNeill Mullin Con: Kiernan (2) Pen: Kiernan Drop: Kiernan	Report	Try: S. Hastings Laidlaw Con: G. Hastings (2) Pen: G. Hastings (2)

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: Roger Quittenton (England)

16 January 1988

France	10–9	England
Try: Rodriguez Pen: Bérot (2)	Report	Pen: Webb (2) Drop: Cusworth

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 45,071 Referee: Owen Doyle (Ireland)

6 February 1988

Scotland	23–12	France
Try: G. Hastings Tukalo Pen: G. Hastings (4) Drop: Cramb	Report	Try: Lagisquet Con: Bérot Pen: Bérot Drop: Lescarboura

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 65,000 Referee: Fransie Muller (South Africa)

6 February 1988

England	3–11	Wales
Pen: Webb	Report	Try: Hadley (2) Drop: J. Davies

Twickenham, London Referee: Stephen Hilditch (Ireland)

20 February 1988

France	25–6	Ireland
Try: Blanco Camberabero Carminati Lagisquet Sella Con: Bérot Drop: Camberabero	Report	Pen: Kiernan (2)

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 49,130 Referee: Fransie Muller (South Africa)

20 February 1988

Wales	25–20	Scotland
Try: J. Davies I. Evans Watkins Con: Thorburn (2) Pen: Thorburn Drop: J. Davies (2)	Report	Try: Calder Duncan Pen: G. Hastings (4)

National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: Yves Bressy (France)

5 March 1988

Ireland	9–12	Wales
Try: Kingston Con: Kiernan Pen: Kiernan	Report	Try: Moriarty Con: Thorburn Pen: Thorburn Drop: J. Davies

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: Ray Megson (Scotland)

5 March 1988

Scotland	6–9	England
Pen: G. Hastings (2)	Report	Pen: Webb (2) Drop: Andrew

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: Winston Jones (Wales)

19 March 1988

Wales	9–10	France
Try: I. Evans Con: Thorburn Pen: Thorburn	Report	Try: Lescarboura Pen: Lafond (2)

National Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 63,000 Referee: Fred Howard (England)

19 March 1988

England	35–3	Ireland
Try: Oti (3) Rees R. Underwood (2) Con: Andrew (3) Webb Pen: Webb	Report	Drop: Kiernan

Twickenham, London Referee: Clive Norling (Wales)

• 1988 Five Nations Championship at ESPN