1885 Home Nations Championship

The 1885 Home Nations Championship was the third series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but the tournament was not completed.

1885 Home Nations Championship
Date	3 January - 21 February 1885
Countries	England  Ireland  Scotland  Wales
Tournament statistics
Champions	Not completed[1]
Matches played	4
Top point scorer(s)	Veitch (1) Taylor (1) Payne (1)
Top try scorer(s)	Jordan (2) Hawkridge (2)
← 1884 (Previous) (Next) 1886 →

The 1885 Championship was notable for the disputes occurring between the Home Nation Unions which prevented a full tournament to be completed. England and Scotland refused to face each other due to the refereeing disagreement from their 1884 encounter, and Wales and Ireland also failed to meet due to union disputes.^[2] The 1885 Championship also experienced a rare replay, when the Ireland versus Scotland game at Ormeau was abandoned after bad weather stopped play. The replay was played in Scotland.^[2]

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	England	2	2	0	0	1	1	0	4
2	Scotland	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1	3
3	Wales	2	0	1	1	1	1	0	1
4	Ireland	2	0	0	2	0	1	−1	0

Source: ^[3]

The matches

^{[citation needed]}

Wales vs. England

3 January 1885

Wales	1G, 1T – 1G, 4T[4]	England
Try: Jordan (2) Con: Gould		Try: Hawcridge Kindersley Ryalls Teggin Wade Con: Payne

St. Helen's, Swansea Attendance: 5,000 Referee: CP Lewis (Wales)

Wales: Arthur Gould (Newport), Frank Hancock (Cardiff), Martyn Jordan (Newport), Charles Taylor (Ruabon), Charlie Newman (Newport) capt., William Gwynn (Swansea), Ernest Rowland (Lampeter), John Sidney Smith (Cardiff), Evan Richards (Swansea), Tom Clapp (Newport), Bob Gould (Newport), Horace Lyne (Newport), Thomas Baker Jones (Newport), Samuel Goldsworthy (Swansea), Lewis Thomas (Cardiff)

England: HB Tristram (Oxford University), CG Wade (Oxford University), Andrew Stoddart (Blackheath), JJ Hawcridge (Bradford), A Rotherham (Oxford University), JH Payne (Broughton), Frank Moss (Broughton), G Harrison (Hull), AT Kemble (Liverpool), RS Kindersley (Oxford University), HJ Ryalls (New Brighton), ED Court (Blackheath), RSF Henderson (Blackheath), A Teggin (Broughton), ET Gurdon (Richmond) capt.

---

Scotland vs. Wales

Source:^[5]

10 January 1885

Scotland	0G – 0G	Wales

Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow Attendance: 3,000 Referee: GR Hill (England)

Scotland Pat Harrower, Bill Maclagan capt., Alexander Stephen, Gardy Maitland, Bunny Wauchope, Augustus Grant-Asher, Tom Ainslie, George Robb, John Jamieson, Robert Maitland, William Peterkin, Charlie Reid, Charles Berry, John Tod, Gordon Mitchell

Wales: Arthur Gould, Frank Hancock, Martyn Jordan, Charles Taylor, Charlie Newman capt., William Gwynn, Willie Thomas, Edward Alexander, Frank Hill, Tom Clapp, Bob Gould, D Morgan, Thomas Baker-Jones, Samuel Goldsworthy, Lewis Thomas

---

England vs. Ireland

^{[citation needed]}

7 February 1885

England	2T – 1T	Ireland
Try: Bolton Hawcridge		Try: Greene

Whalley Range, Manchester Attendance: 6,000 Referee: HS Lyne (Wales)

England: CH Sample (Cambridge University), WN Bolton (Blackheath), Andrew Stoddart (Blackheath), JJ Hawcridge (Bradford), A Rotherham (Oxford University), JH Payne (Broughton), Frank Moss (Broughton), G Harrison (Hull), AT Kemble (Liverpool), Charles Gurdon (Richmond), HJ Ryalls (New Brighton), CH Horley (Swinton), CS Wooldridge (Blackheath), GT Thomson (Halifax), ET Gurdon (Richmond) capt.

Ireland: GH Wheeler (Queen's College, Belfast), EH Greene (Dublin Uni.), JP Ross (Lansdowne), RG Warren (Lansdowne), RE McLean (NIFC), EC Crawford (Dublin Uni.), THM Hobbs (Dublin Uni.), Thomas Lyle (Dublin Uni.), FW Moore (Wanderers), T Shanahan (Lansdowne), RM Bradshaw (Wanderers), TC Allen (NIFC), HJ Neill (NIFC), RW Hughes (NIFC), WG Rutherford (Lansdowne) capt.

---

Scotland vs. Ireland

Source:^[6]

7 March 1885

Scotland	1G - 0G	Ireland
Try: Reid Peterkin ARD Wauchope Con: Veitch

Raeburn Place, Edinburgh Referee: HC Kelly (Ireland)

Scotland James Veitch, Bill Maclagan (capt), Henry Evans, Gardyne Maitland, ARD (Bunny) Wauchope, Patrick Wauchope, Tom Ainslie, John Brown, John Jamieson, Walter Irvine, William Peterkin, Charlie Reid, Jack Tait, John Tod, Gordon Mitchell

Ireland: Robert Morrow, Ernest Greene, John Ross, Robert Warren, Daniel Ross, D.V. Hunter, J.A. Thompson, Thomas Lyle, Frederick Moore, Thomas Shanahan, Robert Bradshaw, Arthur Forrest (capt), Harry Neill, Jack Johnston, William Hogg