The 1899 Home Nations Championship was the seventeenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 5 January and 18 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The 1899 Championship was won by Ireland who also took the Triple Crown. This was the fourth time Ireland had won the tournament and the second occasion they had achieved the Triple Crown, but would be Ireland's last success for some time; they would not win the title outright again until 1935 and their next Triple Crown came in 1948. The Irish success was down to an extremely strong defence with the Irish team conceding just a single penalty in the match against Scotland. The penalty itself was unprecedented as it was awarded for a tackle on a player who did not have the ball, the first time such a penalty had been given in an international game.
The 1899 championship was notable for the beginning of a period of underperformance for the English team; winning just seven of the next thirty three championship matches.
The matches for this season were decided on points scored. A try was worth three points, while converting a kicked goal from the try gave an additional two points. A dropped goal and a goal from mark were both worth four points. Penalty goals were worth three points.
Match summary The Irish trip to Scotland was a game of firsts; not only was the first supposed penalty awarded for an off-ball tackle, but this was the first match at Scotland's new home ground, Inverleith, and it was the first time Ireland had managed to beat Scotland at a Scottish ground.
Almost two months after the tournament began, Wales took their first trip to Inverleith after bad weather postponed the match on four occasions. This was the highest scoring game of the competition.
Douglas Monypenny, who scored a try in the match was to become the only Scottish cap to be killed in the Boer War, dying the following year at Paardeberg.
In a game that saw the only international partnership between English brothers, James and Joseph Davidson; England's loss gave the team the Wooden Spoon for the first time in the Home Nations tournament. This game saw the end of eleven international careers, seven from England and four from Scotland.
Over 40,000 people turned out at the Cardiff Arms Park to see Ireland win the Triple Crown, a record for a Home Nations match. The only score was a try from Gerry Doran and the crowd at stages was uncontrollable with delight. The normal five minutes for half time stretched to fifteen minutes as officials tried to push the invading crowd from the pitch. The second half also suffered similar disruption as the crowd, which packed the touch-lines spilled onto the pitch during play. The match is also remembered as being the game that Welsh captain Billy Bancroft failed to complete after he was thrown into the crowd by Irish brothers Mick and Jack Ryan. Bancroft fell awkwardly, fracturing several ribs and was forced to retire.
Bibliography
Godwin, Terry (1984). The International Rugby Championship 1883-1983. London: Willow Books. ISBN0-00-218060-X.
Smith, David; Williams, Gareth (1980). Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN0-7083-0766-3.
External links
"6 Nations History". rugbyfootballhistory.com. Archived from the original on 30 December 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
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