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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 →

The 1981 Five Nations Championship was the fifty-second series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the eighty-seventh series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 17 January and 21 March.

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

The teams involved were:

Nation	Venue	City	Head coach	Captain
England	Twickenham	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	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

Squads

Results

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

External links

• The official RBS Six Nations Site

• Six Nations Championship seasons
• 1981 rugby union tournaments for national teams
• 1980–81 in Irish rugby union
• 1980–81 in English rugby union
• 1980–81 in Welsh rugby union
• 1980–81 in Scottish rugby union
• 1980–81 in French rugby union
• 1980–81 in European rugby union
• January 1981 sports events in Europe
• February 1981 sports events in Europe
• March 1981 sports events in Europe