Between the mid-1950s and the early-1970s, the disparity in quality between teams competing in the Five Nations was minimal and scoring opportunities at even more of a premium than they were a decade previously; Wales 0-3 England (1957), Scotland 3-3 England (1958), France 3-3 England (1960), Scotland 3-0 Wales (1961), Scotland 3-3 England, Wales 3-0 France, Ireland 3-3 Wales (1962) represented dark, wintry days for rugby fans and it's probably only the increased likelihood of a draw that meant more championships didn't finish with two wins and two defeats apiece.
In 1973, though, that's exactly what happened. That championship is unique as a five-way tie, as at the time there was no tie-breaker, such as points difference, in use. Had there been, then the title would have gone to Wales, who started as defending champions (from 1971 after the '72 edition had been abandoned – but more on that later) and as favourites. A side featuring JPR Williams, Gerald Davies, Phil Bennett, Gareth Edwards, Derek Quinnell and Mervyn Davies thumped England 25-9 in their opening match at Cardiff Arms Park.
Clem Thomas's report in the Observer was scathing. "It is impossible to criticise the England backs after such an inept performance by the forwards," he wrote. "On one occasion, and all at the same time, [full back Sam Doble] missed a kick ahead, managed to scramble possession, ran into his own man and then kicked the ball into Welsh hands to set up a Welsh counter-attack.
"In contrast it is difficult to find superlatives to extol fully the virtues, the efficiency and creative instincts of the Welsh backs."
Reading Thomas's report, the championship was poised to be anything but tight, yet this would be the only match with a double-digit winning margin. A couple of weeks later the Welsh, so impressive at home, slumped to a narrow 10-9 defeat at Murrayfield to a Scotland side that had themselves narrowly lost to France on the opening weekend of the tournament. "Wales ... will be strong favourites to win their second championship match of the season," wrote David Frost in his match preview. The headline the following day though, read "The Mighty Mouse that roared" after Billy Steele and Colin Telfer crossed the line and Scottish defence shut out Wales' star-studded backline in a mighty display of backs-to-the-wall rugby.
The result offered England a way back into the tournament after their opening defeat, but instead they folded in the face of an Irish side playing their first game. The match went down in history as England were the first team to agree to play in Dublin after Scotland and Wales had declined to do so in the face of The Troubles a year before, hence the abandonment of that competition. "We might not be any good, but at least we turned up," was the famous quote from England captain John Pullin. One could argue that Warren Gatland couldn't even offer a similar sentiment after Wales' insipid display in Dublin this year.
"England were a pretty decent side at the time but Ireland gave us a thumping even if the scoreboard only said 18-9," said Pullin, reflecting on the match in an interview with the Daily Telegraph last year. The defeat put England bottom of the table as the only side without a point to their name, but more importantly the uninspiring nature of their defeats suggested little prospect of recovery.
What Ireland and Wales were embodying, after the predilection for snoozefests a decade or so previously, was a return to creative and exciting rugby; the teams' willingness to take risks made predicting the outcome of matches a fools' game.
Indeed, very few would have backed England to beat France, who had edged Scotland in the opening round. Nonetheless, beat them they did, albeit thanks to a highly efficient and committed display from their loose forwards – both of David Duckham's tries actually came from rucks – rather than scintillating back play in the mould of their Celtic rivals. Fly-half was a problem position, with neither Dick Cowman nor Martin Cooper proving reliable enough to ignite the backline. Nonetheless, England had ended a run of 10 successive championship defeats and had what was thought to be an outside chance of a share in the title.
Ireland, on the other hand, were buoyant after their win at Lansdowne Road and, according to David Irvine in the Guardian, "laid the foundations for what they hope [and, in the hearts of many, believe] could be their first grand slam in the competition for a quarter of a century. With France and England proving variable, and Wales having suffered a shock defeat to the unfancied Scots, a stylish Ireland side with Mike Gibson at inside-centre were a decent bet for the title, only to become the second side to be upset by Scotland.
After the match, Irvine described Ireland as "a side that clearly possessed the capacity to overwhelm [Scotland] but lacked the tactical appreciation or direction to do so". The Irish had beaten England by pummelling their forwards into submission and unleashing the backs – think of it as early Gatlandball – and thought a similar forward-orientated approach would be enough to beat Scotland; it seemed though they hadn't paid heed to the Scots' impressively staunch display against Wales. The home side's back row rode roughshod over John Moloney at scrum-half and, with a try, two penalties and three drop-goals, showed wonderful opportunism to prompt thoughts of their own shot at the title, as well as a triple crown.
Those of you who have been totting the W and L columns up so far will have worked out that this didn't come to pass in Scotland's final match of the tournament, against England at Twickenham. Despite Billy Steele again scoring twice for the Scots, England's relentless attacking around the fringes of the breakdown meant that they held the gainline advantage for most of the match and it was largely down to the excellence of Peter Dixon – who scored two tries – and Andy Ripley that they were able to cross the line four times and secure what was, in the context of the championship that year, a comfortable 20-13 victory.
This result, coupled with Wales' impressive return to form in a 16-12 win over the stuttering Irish a week earlier, meant that only the Welsh and France were able to win the title outright. For Wales to do so and live up to the hype they would need to win their remaining game in France but, again, they disappointed.
"The Welsh midfield attack seldom made any direct progress and the passing along the line was not slick enough to give the wings time to move in," wrote Frost in the match report; a rare occasion on which such criticism could be made of that great back division from west of the Severn. "The Welsh three-quarter movements tended to be too lateral so that they were stifled repeatedly by intelligently positioned covering and tackling." With the final score reading 12-3 in favour of the home side in Paris, Wales were left to rue the four penalty kicks missed by Bennett and blindside flanker John Taylor.
France, on the other hand, were invigorated by the return to the side of lock Elie Cester, who resumed his inspiring partnership with captain Walter Spanghero. They travelled to Dublin a week later buoyed and in the knowledge that a draw would be enough for them to win the title outright for the first time in five years; a potentially huge achievement given their underwhelming performances in beating Scotland and losing to England.
Alas, in this unique Five Nations, recent history was against them. All nine matches to date had been won by the home side and, in an unprecedented and indeed never-matched sequence, Ireland duly made it 10 out of 10 in a low scoring match at Lansdowne Road.
Ireland chose to recall Mick Molloy for the match to partner Willie-John McBride, while France moved Spanghero to the back of the scrum at number eight. The extra muscle meant that Ireland dominated the set-piece, but in truth it was France who lost this match rather than Ireland winning it through forward advantage; perhaps a sign of the way the game has changed given the importance nowadays of scrum and lineout advantage. This time it was their turn to miss four kicks at goal – three penalties and a conversion – as Jean-Pierre Romeu showed the same waywardness he had at Twickenham, albeit this time in horrible windy conditions. Ireland's narrow victory by just six points to four, was good news for the remaining three teams in the championship as they all took a share of the title.
The match reports throughout described the games as intriguing rather than espousing any particularly enthralling rugby on display, which is perhaps a portent to this year's championship. It would be a couple of years before Wales set the rugby world on fire – Ireland took the title outright the following year – as their great side was still in its embryonic stage. It wasn't a tournament of memorable rugby nor of any great side, but rather a statistical curio that will, with the advent of points difference as a tie-breaker in 1994 and the addition of Italy in 2000 making such an equal record impossible, forever stand alone in the record books.
