The rugby union Five Nations Championship's fifty-sixth series was the 1985 Five Nations Championship. This was the ninety-first season of the northern hemisphere rugby union tournament, including prior incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations. Between February 2nd and April 20th, ten matches were played. The 1985 Five Nations Championship was won by England, who claimed their fourth title.
The championship was created by joining together the Home Nations of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The inaugural match was played on 5 February 1883, when England defeated Wales 16–3 at Raeburn Park in Edinburgh. This was the first international game ever played by each country's national team. The final match of the 1985 Five Nations Championship was also the last one to be decided on field goals alone; from this year onward, any remaining drop kicks would be taken after conversions.
England won their fourth title with an undefeated record. They beat France 3–0 at Twickenham Stadium in London, conceding only a penalty goal. This was their third consecutive win over France, and kept them top of the table ahead of Ireland who lost all three of their games. It was also England's second consecutive title without losing a single match.
This season saw the introduction of several changes to the format of the competition. The most significant of these was the reduction in size of the field from 15 to 12 players per side.
The 1998 Five Nations Championship was the rugby union Five Nations Championship's 69th series. This was the 134th series of the northern hemisphere rugby union tournament, including prior incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations. From the 7th of February through the 5th of April, ten matches were contested across five weekends. The tournament was won by England for the third consecutive year.
The 1997 edition of the Five Nations had been postponed until after the conclusion of the 1997 Rugby World Cup. The rescheduled season started on January 4 and ended on March 3. England again proved to be the strongest side with six wins out of six games. Ireland finished second for the first time since 1890 while France came last for the first time since 1883. In total, fourteen different teams have competed in the championship. Wales and Scotland have yet to participate.
The 1998 tournament was the last one to be played under its original format, before being expanded to a six-team group stage in 1999. It was also the last one to be won by an English side until 2011 when France beat England at Twickenham.
The next series will start in 2016 and will be known as the Six Nations Championship. Each team will play the other five countries once over a six-week period. The top four nations will qualify for the knockout stages, which will be held over two weeks beginning on March 6.
The Six Nations Championship, originally the Five Nations Championship (before to 2000), is an annual rugby competition between the national teams of the six most notable European rugby-playing countries (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales). The title has been known as such since its creation in 1883 by the English sports journalist Henry Blunt.
Currently, all of these teams have also qualified for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. England, France, and Ireland have all won the tournament at least once.
However, Scotland and Wales have yet to win the trophy. Scotland last won in 1990, while Wales lost their only match during the 2011 tournament against Australia.
Ireland became the first team to retain the title when they defeated England 15-6 in the final of the 2004 Championship. This was followed by another Irish victory a year later when they beat England 17-9 in Paris. However, this year's championship will be the first time that Ireland does not hold the title since it began using a league system instead of a series of matches held at different times throughout the year.
Wales and Scotland have never been able to defend their titles because both countries have too much bad football history. In fact, England is the only country that has been able to defend its title every year since it was created.
The Six Nations Championship is the oldest international rugby union competition, having begun in 1883 with games involving England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. The Four Nations is the premier annual international rugby league competition, first held in 1999. Each nation enters one team for the tournament, which lasts for six weeks in February and March. The top two nations from each division progress to the knockout stage, which includes all of the match-ups from the previous year's tournament.
The winner of the Six Nations receives the Golden Shoe prize. This is given to the player who scores the most points during the tournament. If teams are equal on points, the order in which they scored their goals will determine the winner (e.g., if team A beats team B, then team A wins the Golden Shoe; if team B beats team A, then team B wins the Golden Shoe).
The current champion is France who beat England 24-6 in the final at Dublin's Aviva Stadium on 6 March 2019.
There is also an award called the John Jardine Trophy, which goes to the most consistent country over the course of the season. This trophy is named after the Scottish captain who was the last player to win the Triple Crown: he captained his country to victory in three consecutive tests matches against England, starting in 1871.
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