# 1985 Five Nations Championship

The 1985 Five Nations Championship was the fifty-sixth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the ninety-first series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 2 February and 20 April. The championship was contested by England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The championship winner was Ireland, winning their tenth title (excluding eight other shared titles); it would prove to be their last in 24 years, until their Grand Slam in 2009. Ireland also claimed the Triple Crown, their sixth, which would be their last until 2004.
The tournament suffered three match postponements due to bad weather. The opening fixtures, Ireland v England and France v Wales, were postponed to late March and the Wales v England match was put back from February to April because of a frozen pitch in Cardiff. The rescheduled match was notable for the debut, at fly half for Wales, of Jonathan Davies.

## Participants

The teams involved were:
| Nation | Venue | City | Head coach | Captain |
| England | Twickenham | London | Dick Greenwood | Paul Dodge |
| France | Parc des Princes | Paris | Jacques Fouroux | Philippe Dintrans |
| Ireland | Lansdowne Road | Dublin | Mick Doyle | Ciaran Fitzgerald |
| Scotland | Murrayfield | Edinburgh | Derrick Grant | Roy Laidlaw/David Leslie |
| Wales | National Stadium | Cardiff | John Bevan | Terry Holmes |

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Ireland | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 67 | 49 | +18 | 7 |
| 2 | France | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 49 | 30 | +19 | 6 |
| 3 | Wales | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 61 | 71 | −10 | 4 |
| 4 | England | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 44 | 53 | −9 | 3 |
| 5 | Scotland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 46 | 64 | −18 | 0 |

## Results

* 1985-02-02
| England | 9–9 | France |
| Pen.: Andrew (2) Drops: Andrew | report | Drops: Lescarboura (3) |
* Twickenham, London Attendance: 60,000 Referee: D. I. H. Burnett (Ireland)
* 1985-02-02
| Scotland | 15–18 | Ireland |
| Pen.: Dods (4) Drops: Rutherford | Report | Tries: Ringland (2) Con.: Kiernan (2) Pen.: Kiernan Drops: Kiernan |
* Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: Steve Strydom (South Africa)
* 1985-02-16
| France | 11–3 | Scotland |
| Tries: Blanco (2) Pen.: Lescarboura | Report | Pen.: Dods |
* Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 45,146 Referee: L. M. Prideaux (England)
* 1985-03-02
| Scotland | 21–25 | Wales |
| Tries: Paxton (2) Con.: Dods (2) Pen.: Dods Drops: Rutherford (2) | Report | Tries: Pickering (2) Con.: Wyatt Pen.: Wyatt (4) Drops: G. Davies |
* Murrayfield, Edinburgh Referee: René Hourquet (France)
* 1985-03-02
| Ireland | 15–15 | France |
| Pen.: Kiernan (5) | Report | Tries: Codorniou Estève Con.: Lescarboura (2) Pen.: Lescarboura |
* Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 56,000 Referee: Kerry Fitzgerald (Australia)
* 1985-03-16
| England | 10–7 | Scotland |
| Tries: S. Smith Pen.: Andrew (2) | Report | Tries: Robertson Pen.: Dods |
* Twickenham, London Referee: C. Norling (Wales)
* 1985-03-16
| Wales | 9–21 | Ireland |
| Tries: Lewis Con.: Wyatt Drops: G. Davies | Report | Tries: Crossan Ringland Con. Kiernan (2) Pen.: Kiernan (3) |
* National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: Kerry Fitzgerald (Australia)
* 1985-03-30
| Ireland | 13–10 | England |
| Tries: Mullin Pen.: Kiernan (2) Drops: Kiernan | Report | Tries: R. Underwood Pen.: Andrew (2) |
* Lansdowne Road, Dublin Referee: J. M. Fleming (Scotland)
* 1985-03-30
| France | 14–3 | Wales |
| Tries: Estève Gallion Pen.: Lescarboura (2) | Report | Pen.: Thorburn |
* Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 49,164 Referee: Steve Strydom (South Africa)
* 1985-04-20
| Wales | 24–15 | England |
| Tries: J. Davies Roberts Con.: Thorburn (2) Pen.: Thorburn (3) Drops: J. Davies | Report | Tries: S. Smith Con.: Andrew Pen.: Andrew (2) Drops: Andrew |
* National Stadium, Cardiff Referee: F. Palmade (France)